Nights of Twilight
by fire1
Summary: All my life I have always known I am different. My mother and father always said everything was fine, that there was nothing wrong with me.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

Nights of Twilight Prologue

The _Twilight Saga_ is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own. This is a work of fiction, and in no way related to the author. No copyright infringement intended. This story is no written for an commercial purposes. There. I think I've got the bases covered now. This goes for all future chapters and stories.

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Bella pov

All my life I have always known I am different. My mother and father always said everything was fine, that there was nothing wrong with me. But a small part of me always knew that it was my abnormalities that led my mother to take me with her when she left my father. She claimed it was a combination of marrying too young and my father's unwillingness to leave their hometown of Forks, Washington. I loved the sun, and based on my few small childhood memories, and my one visit, the sun never seemed to shine there. Ergo, Forks and I did not get along. Unlike my beloved Arizona, where it was dry and hot 24-7, Forks is never dry, and practically always overcast. However it was now Forks I had willingly sentenced my self to. How was I to know at the time that Forks would be the best place for me after all.

Edward pov

In my 17 years of human life and then in my 100 years as a vampire, I had always believed I was complete within myself. My vampire family worried for me because I alone was without a mate. They did not understand I was happy with them as a family and in my music. I never realized that, without even knowing it, I had been looking and listening for that one being my entire life. I'd been searching through the thoughts of others, just waiting for her and trying to find her. Hoping.

It's been almost two years now that my family and I have returned to Forks, Washington. It's been several decades since we last called this town home. A lot has changed for us since then: we now have Alice and Jasper in our family and we are now the only 'mystical beings' here. Like all towns, this one seemed much the same as it had been when we'd last left… at least that was what I had thought until she arrived.

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A/N: Just a heads up, the first couple chapters are going to seem pretty similar to canon _Twilight_, but that's just for setting the scene. Please bear with me, and things will get very exciting, very fast.

Hope everyone enjoys it!

~fire1


	2. Chapter 2 The Decision

Chapter one: The Decision

Bella's pov

I sat out in the yard in the beautiful seventy-five degree sun of Phoenix, reading _Sense and Sensibility_ by Jane Austen for my Classic Literature class. It was not my fist time reading it, but I didn't mind. After all, it was one of my favorites. It was mind boggling to me that it was only just being assigned in Classic Lit. I had read all of Jane Austen's works long before new, but I had only just started going to school this last year since Renée, my mother, opted to home school me up to that point, so I just told my self it was because of this that I was so far ahead in my studies.

The phone rang inside, distracting me from my reading and I put my book down on the patio table to get up and answer it when I heard my mom get up and rush to it instead. I was expecting a call from my dad, Charlie. After all, it was Saturday, and he always called on Saturdays. So I made my way into our small living room, ready to accept the phone, but when I saw my mom's face light up the way it did when something spectacular happened, I knew it must be Phil, her new husband. She thought Phil was something spectacular.

Phil is seven years younger then my mother and a minor league base ball player, so he had to travel a lot. When they first started dating it was weird because of the age thing, but I could tell just by looking at them that they loved each other. Not to mention the fact that their hearts would beat like mad when they would even hold hands.

As I stood in our small, but comfortable living room with all its dark wood paneling, I watched my mother talking to Phil. He was traveling around looking for a new team, and it pained me to see her so sad without him. She would have loved to go on the road to travel with him, but she has stayed here with me instead.

I wanted to do something so she could be with him. I hated seeing her unhappy, stuck here with me. I tried to tell her I could go back to being home schooled and we could both go with Phil, but she hadn't gone for that, for all that I would have honestly preferred it. I had just stared going to school, for one thing, and for another she was secretly afraid someone might notice I was different than other kids my age. Not that she actually said that to me, but I could tell she was thinking it. I would do anything for my mom, but I just did not know what I could to help her right now.

As she was talking to Phil, I decided to start dinner for the two of use. Something simple would do, like a chicken caser salad.

Just as I began cutting up the chicken I heard Renee hanging up the phone and heading into the kitchen.

"Hey sweetie, what's for dinner?" she asked, trying to be up beat. Renee is a very… _unpredictable_ cook, so I tried to always cook for us.

"Oh, just a chicken caser salad. So how's Phil doing?"

Before she could answer though, the phone rang again and I knew this time it had to be Charlie.

I stopped what I was doing and washed my hands as Renee picked up the phone. "Sweetie, it your dad," she called.

"Can you bring the phone in here?" I called, so she made her way into the kitchen to hand me the phone. " Hey, Dad. How was fishing today?" I asked by way of greeting.

"Hi, Bells. Well, it was nice weather today, so the fish were biting." Nice weather in Forks? So the sun does come out some times. Imagine that.

"That's good. Did you get a little sun?" I asked, and he told me not too much, but some. We went on about the weather here and in Forks. A very loving and deep conversation, obviously.

"Has anything changed much since last week?" I asked, more out of politeness than interest. After all, nothing ever really changed in Forks.

"No, not that much. Time always seems to move more slowly in small towns, but that's just what I think. How are things in Phoenix?"

"Oh, pretty good," I said noncommittally, glancing over at Renee.

"Bells…" Charlie said uncomfortably. "I know you don't like Forks that much, but… I mean… I miss you. I barely ever get to see you. Would it be too much if… we could spend some time together this summer or something?" The open yearning in his voice dumbfounded me. Did he really miss me that much?

I glanced nervously over at Renee again, and suddenly, it hit me: I knew what I could do for her! I could go and live with Charlie, so that she could be free to travel with Phil. But could I bring my self to leave Arizona? Leave my loving, unpredictable, erratic, harebrained mother? I had always been the one to take care of her, but she did have Phil now. Could I exile myself to the cold, wet, small-town life of Forks? I looked over once more at my mom and saw her looking out the living room window so sadly. Yes. I could do this for her.

Now the real question was 'will Charlie be okay with me going to live with him?' Well, no time like the present to find out, right?

"You know, Dad I have been wanting to send more time with you too, and I was thinking, maybe if it was alright with Mom, but could I come and live with you? Like, for a while?" There was silence on the other line

"Ohm…"

"Dad, you there?"

He found his voice. "Well, Bells, I'd love to have you come up here, but are you sure about this? Don't get me wrong, but shouldn't you talk with your mother first? Why don't you do that, and then give me a call, okay?"

"Okay Dad, I will. Love you,"

"Love you too, Bells." We hung up then and it suddenly struck me that I would have to fine a way to tell to think these things through, Bella.

After hanging up with Charlie I went back to cooking dinner and trying to figure out how I was going to tell Renee that I wanted to move in with Charlie. Once dinner was ready I called Renee into the kitchen to eat. "So, um, Mom, there's something I want to talk to you about…"

Alice pov

It's a sunny day so Jazz, Emmett and Edward went out for a brother bonding and hunting trip. Carlisle (aka "Daddy-kins") was at work, Esme (aka "Dearest-Darling Mommy") was out working in the garden, and Rose, last but certainly not least, was out in the garage working on one of her numerous cars. I was just about to sit down and start working on my latest clothing designs when a vision pounced on me.

_In a small, sun-lit kitchen, a middle-aged woman with short, dark brown hair sits at a broad wooden table, a plate of human food before her (was it lunch? Was it dinner? No way to tell, really). She has a look of shock on her face. She asked softly "Sweetie, what are you saying?"_

_She paused, looking as if she was listening to something intently. " I just don't know, honey, and besides, I'd miss you like crazy. And you always said you'd hate it there, just like I did. I don't wont you to feel trapped there." The women look as if she wanted to start to cry but, was holding it in. "You're not doing this just so I can go on the road too, are you?" A short pause ensued. "Okay, sweetie… if this is really what you want, I'll call your dad and we will get things set up. You will have to put in your two weeks at the book store."_

Then just like that the vision ended.

Well, that was sure as heck one strange vision. I wondered why I was seeing some crazy woman talking to her self. Well… if it's important I'll see something else about it.

I turned back to my sketchbook, forgetting all about the crazy woman arguing with thin air.

Bella's pov

After convincing Renee to let me move in with Charlie, I quickly cleaned up our small kitchen and went to get my book from outside. The sun was going down, and Renee was sitting on the end of the couch looking out the window again. She would always look out the window when she was thinking, and I had just given her a lot to think about.

"Mom, I'm going up to do my homework and then go to bed." She didn't look at me, just gave me a wave of her hand to let me know she had heard me.

Once I had fished my homework, which took all of ten minutes, I settled into bed. I heard my mother come in to check on me. I just laid there, pretending to sleep. I did not want her to try and talk me out of going to Forks. Then I heard the phone being picked up and dialed from the living room. That made me listen. I usually gave Renee her privacy when she used the phone and tried to distract my self so I can't hear the other end of her calls. But calling someone when she thinks I defiantly won't hear is a little bit suspicious. I listened to the other phone ringing on the receiving end of the line, and Renee waiting for whoever it was she calling to pick up.

"_Hello, Swan residence, Charlie speaking."_

She was calling Charlie. But why was she waiting for me to be asleep? Oh, duh! She knew I could over-hear her conversations, and hadn't wanted to take the chance here!

"Hello, Charlie, it's Renee. How are you?"

_"I'm good, how about you?" _

"I'm doing okay, just missing Phil." Whoa! Did she really just say that? Didn't she know that Charlie had always pined away for her after the divorce? I didn't even need to see him all that often to know that! "Well, I'm calling because of Bella, actually. She asked if she could go live with you, and to be honest I just don't know how I feel about that. On one hand, I would be with Phil and it would be nice not to have to be on the look-out all the time to make sure he doesn't notice anything he shouldn't about her. One the other hand, I will miss her like crazy, and who knows how much trouble I could get my self into with out her with me? There is also how you feel. Would you even be okay with it?"

_"Renee, I think it would be great having Bells here with me! Why don't you just let her come? I know how to keep people from asking questions."_

"Well, it's good to know you want her there, because I think she's made up her mind, and you know there's no way to _argue_ with her when she makes up her mind just like… well you know."

_"Yeah… So when should I be excepting her?" _

_"_I would say about two weeks if that's okay. She seems to want to get up there. I don't know why. God knows I never liked it there." I could hear Charlie laughing at that. How strange.

_"Oh, and here I thought you missed your home town. Okay, well, call me with the details and I'll get things set up here at my end. Bye."_

"Bye."

The phone call left me numb. Why did Phil need to not notice my differences? Why did my parents have 'stop people from asking questions'? Was I truly that strange? Strange enough to make my parents afraid that the people closest to them might not accept me? Maybe that was it. Maybe my mother didn't want to travel with Phil because he might notice something about me, and stop loving her. My parents wouldn't have had to suffer at all if not for me: all I did was bring them worry and pain, and I hated myself for that. And what was with those "just like" comments they would always start to make, before cutting themselves off? Why do I have to cause the people I love so much trouble?

At least I was going to Forks now. I can't believe I just said that like it was a good thing.


	3. Chapter 3 Dinner with friends

The _Twilight Saga_ is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own. This is a work of fiction, and in no way related to the author. No copyright infringement intended. This story is not written for an commercial purposes. There. I think I've got the bases covered now. This goes for all future chapters and stories.

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thank you

I would like to thank Sherry80,Dulce82 and Danimarie92 for taking the time to review it means a lot.

i would also like to thank anyone how is reading this story. and i hope that you will like it.

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Chapter 2: Dinner With Friends

Bella pov

The ride from the airport with Charlie was tense and awkward. He still didn't have the foggiest clue why I had suddenly expressed interest in staying with him, and I wasn't going to tell him. And he was too shy to ask. I spent the whole trip staring out the window, contemplating my own stupidity. Had I really exiled myself from the beautiful (and _warm_, for God's sakes!) Phoenix for the damp and foggy Forks?

I had only visited Charlie in Forks once, about three years ago. Until then we had always spent our time together visiting California and doing touristy things. Very strong bonding time, obviously. As I had expected, Forks looked exactly the same as it had three years ago: like some wet, green, alien planet, completely unfamiliar. However I could not deny it was beautiful… In its way...

Charlie pulled the police cruiser into the drive of the two-story white-and-blue-trimmed house. The two bedraggled trees still stood out front, and the yard was still only grass, grass in a desperate need of a trim. The left side of the house bordered the forest. Charlie had bought the house with Renee in the early days of their marriage. The only days of there marriage.

Charlie helped me get my luggage out of the back of the car. He was the police chief in this small, wet town and he has only ever driven his cruiser, and I hoped to high heaven that he wouldn't have to drive me around too much. (Were there busses in Forks? All signs so far pointed at 'no'.) That would only make me look like same sort of delinquent. Luckily, I never really spent much of the money I'd saved from working at the bookstore in Phoenix, so maybe I could buy myself a car.

Charlie and I made our way to the front door, and stopped on the overhung porch so he could get the key he kept hidden there. Just as Charlie opened the door he turned to me, smiling. "Well, Bells, welcome home." I could see how much me being here meant to him, which keep me from rolling my eyes at the cheesy remark.

"Thanks Dad. Come on, we should get inside."

I still remembered my way around the small house, but Charlie insisted on giving me the 'grand tour' as he led the way up to my room. It had always been my room, though I only ever used it once when I was a baby, and then again when I visited that one time.

My room, like Forks, looked much the same as the last time I had visited. The only real change was the desk that had a rather elderly looking computer on it. My mother had insisted on a computer so we could keep in touch easier. The walls were still painted light blue (was it seriously the same color as the trim outside?), and there was still a twin size bed pushed up on the wall and a window over looked the front yard. The window had light yellow flower patterned curtains, and a rocking chair was set in the corner near the closet, set so that it could look out over the yard, and a dresser on the wall across form the bed.

As I looked around my room with a faint sense of nostalgia, my dad set down my suitcases by the dresser. "Well, I hope you like it. If there's anything you want to change, just let me know."

"No, Dad, it's great." I reassured him.

"Well, I guess I'm going to leave you to unpacking. By the way, Bells I have a surprise for you later. Oh, and we'll also be having guests over for dinner." Oh, wonderful. I just love surprises.

"Okay," was all I could think of to say.

Once I was left alone, I was almost overcome with self-pity. Wasn't there any way I could have convinced my mother that we both could have traveled with Phil? Wasn't there any way that I could have convinced her to keep home schooling me? Wasn't there any way I could have convinced her that I could have stayed home alone so she could travel with Phil? The answer to all those questions was 'no', but I couldn't help asking them of myself. I knew I had to wait at least until I was in bed for the night before I let myself have a good cry. So I began to unpack one of my suitcases and put my clothes in my closet and dresser, just for something to do. I was putting the last of my things away when I heard a car thundering its way up to the house.

"Bells, come on down here." Charlie called from downstairs. It must be the dinner guests he was mentioned. I heard the front door slam and Charlie's indistinct voice warmly greeting someone. As I was coming down the stairs, a wave of dizziness suddenly crashed over me, and I tumbled down the last few steps to the living room floor. At least no one was there to see it, and I felt better just a second later. I went out front to find Charlie with an older looking man in a wheel chair, and someone else whom I assumed was his son.

"Hey there kiddo, this is Billy and his son Jacob". Jacob pushed his father's chair up the soaking wet driveway, both of them grinning widely. Were they smiling at me? How unnerving. Both father and son were very tan with long, black hair.

"So, Bells how do you like it?" 'How did I like what?' I wanted to ask, not understanding. I looked to the three men dubiously. They all had goofy grins on their faces, giving nothing away. "Think about what, Dad?" sometimes you have to ask things for an answer, right?

"Your welcome home present, of course!" What was he talking about? Oh, please tell he did not go out looking for friends for me. My look of confusion must have told him that I still didn't understand. "The truck, Bells! I just bought it off Billy here for you."

Truck? What truck? My eyes followed Charlie's pointing arm to see, lo and behold, a truck parked on the street right in front of the house. My hand-me-down, old faded red tuck, with big rounded fenders and a bulbous cab. It had a solid iron body that looks like it could never get damaged, even should a piano fall on it.

To my great surprise, I loved it instantly. I could see my self in this truck. As I looked back over to Charlie I could feel the tears building up in my eyes, I was so happy. "Thanks Dad! I love it!" It has always been hard for me to accept presents, but as I looked at his face, all lit up because it was making me happy, I know I should just leave it be. So instead of telling him it was too expansive and he did not have to, I just gave him a hug.

I was pulled from the gently moment by Jacob tapping me on the shoulder. His grin was enormous. "Do you like it? I'm the one who fixed it up for you. There are a few little finicky things about it that you should know about it. Do you want to go for a drive? I can show you everything unusual." As Jacob approached me and spoke I noted two things: He has a very strange smell to him. It was a mix of wet earth, sea salt and just faintly of wet dog and something else I just could not place, but might be chemical. I could explain the smells easily enough – he said he'd been working on the truck, so that had to be where the chemical came from, and heck, maybe he had a dog. The other was his voice: it was still very boyish, though it was turning husky, and oh so friendly, which somehow seemed to calm my jangled nerves.

The only thing I could tell about the truck was that it is a old Chevy truck. My knowledge about automobiles was decidedly slim. "It's a 1953 Chevrolet Pickup Truck." Jacob explained. I smiled. Oh, that was too classic. "My dad bought it in 1984." Billy nodded yes to that. "Me and dad have done a lot of work on the engine so it's only a few years old there." I looked over at him, impressed. I had no idea how to even change a tire.

"What your saying is that if I have a problem you can be my mechanic." I said with a grin. He grinned back at me.

"I'm not cheap, you know." I laughed, lightly slapping his back.

"I'll keep that in mind." Despite the uneasiness I felt about Jacob's scent, I found he was very easy to talk to.

"So, how about I come with you for test drive?" he asked cheerily.

"Yeah, okay." Charlie interjected then, with "Hey if you two kids are going out, why don't you pick up some pizza for us."

"Or I could pick something up to actually cook from the super market." All three of them gave me questioning looks like, as if they were dubious about the cooking of a seventeen-year-old girl who was new in town. "I'll have all of you know I did all the cooking back home, and have been told I'm a very good cook, thank you very much." I crossed my arms over my chest, a little bit righteous, and a little bit proud.

Not that I would know, or course. All food tasted just about the same to me, differing only in their degrees of nasty. I think I was 7 or 8 when all of a sudden, food started to not have the same appeal to me as it did before and now it all just tasted bad, and if I ate too much it make me sick.

They all looked at each other, equal amounts of dubiousness and hunger in their eyes. In the end gave in, hunger winning. "Okay, so what do you three want?" I asked them. Both Billy and Jacob said they didn't care but Charlie asks if I could just make spaghetti for everyone. "Here Bells," he said, fishing a crumpled twenty-dollar bill from his back pocket.

"No, dad it's on me. As a thank you for the truck."

"Bells, I'm the parent here, and it's my responsibility to feed you, so take the money." I let out a sigh, but gave in. Charlie could be just as stubborn as me sometimes.

I had fun joking with Jake, as he had asked me to call him, as he helped me get used to the truck and showed me around Forks all at the same times. Then he helped me get dinner things for later, and even went so far as to push the cart for me. When we got back to the house, Billy and Charlie were watching some baseball game on TV in the living room. Jake joined them and that left me to prepare dinner for everyone.

As I was pulling the garlic bread out or the oven, Jake came in to help set the table. " It smells moth water Bells," Jake says as he pulled the cups down out of the cabinet for us. I had made a nice hot tea to go with dinner.

"Thanks, Jake. Could you tell the old men that dinner is being served now?"

"Yep, okay! Hey, old men! Come get the food before I eat it all!" he called over his shoulder. I rolled my eyes at him.

Jake pulled a chair out so Billy could pull his wheelchair up and the rest of us sat down. I shook my head at them as I watched the men all pull spaghetti and garlic bread onto their plates and began passing the salad I had made. Just to make sure they didn't worry, I took a small amount of salad and an even smaller amount of spaghetti onto my plate and began trying to choke down the food. Luckily for me, both Billy and Jacob were focused on eating, so they did not notice how little I was eating. Charlie, however, was not. He was eying me with concern, but did not bring it up with our present guests.

As the men slowed in their eating, Billy looked over at me and then at Charlie, "You know Charlie, it's odd…" As he said odd, I became nervous: what had he seen that he found odd about me? "I have known you almost all my life, and the only time before now I've seen Bella was when she was first born." I felt relief wash over me. Was that all it was? Charlie looked over at Billy before he spoke "Well, that would have been because of Renee. She was a bit over predictive when she was fist born and then… well, you know." I watched Billy as Charlie was speaking. When he was done, Billy looked as if he felt bad about bringing it up. Probable because of Charlie and Renee's short-lived marriage.

As it started to get dark, Charlie excused himself to drive Billy and Jake home and I told him I would be heading to bed as soon as I had picked up the kitchen and taken a shower. Charlie come home just as I was getting me things together to go take a shower and cursing the fact that I would have to share a bathroom with Charlie (the house only had one).

"Hey Dad, I was just about to get in the shower." I called down the stairs. "I hope you didn't mind me here today when you had your friends over."

"Yeah, Bells, definitely," he called up to me. "It was much nicer then I would have expected." So did he want me to like it here…. Well. That was nice. I heard him making his way up the stairs as I pondered that.

Charlie came to a stop just in front of me "You know, Bells, we all loved dinner. We all agreed in the car. It was better then even some restaurants I've been to, but I noticed you didn't eat that much. Is everything okay?" he asked while looking kind of nervous and awkward.

"Everything's fine, Dad. It was just a long day and I just wasn't that hungry, you know." He looked at me suspiciously but let it drop. "Okay then, kiddo, I'm going to bed now myself. I get up for work at about five. So I'll see you when I get home from work tomorrow. Oh, do you need directions to the school? I already enrolled you so just go up to the office when you get there. Classes start at eight."

"No Dad, Jake showed me were it was earlier. I'll be fine."

"Good night, Bells."

"Good night, Dad."

I took my time in the shower, letting the hot water heat up my skin. But I got out before it could get cold and cool me down along with it. I would probably be taking a lot of hot showers here to warm me up, I surmised, as I went into my room. The heat of my skin started to remind me of home and a I began to cry, first for my home and then because thinking of home made me think of my mom and I began to miss her too. I don't know what time it was when I finely cried myself to sleep but the rain was getting louder and heavier and kept waking me up during the night.

Edward's pov

It was raining heavily and it was just hours until my siblings and I would have to endure another day of purgatory known to us as 'high school'. With my gift it made it even harder to endure the nonstop and vulgar fantasies the children had about my sibling and my self that I was forced by my gift of mind-reading to hear over and over again. I could somewhat handle the ones about my bothers and myself but when I come to my sisters it was hard to keep from showing my revulsion, knowing they would hate what was running through some of the boys' minds. They were married women, after all, even if the children at the school didn't know it. Nothing could be more annoying and madding then having to see fantasizes about your sisteris in the minds of the human boys.

In the last couple of weeks I have had a small reprieve of the fantasies due to the most part to the news of a new-comer to the school .The daughter of the police chief would be arriving today from Arizona. It was irritating to have to hear about it over and over but at least it keep the children's' thoughts some place other then us.

They all keep trying to picture a tan, city girl. Unfortunately for the new girl, it meant that must of the boys were hoping she would be beautiful and immediately fall in love with them. Most of the girls here had all grown with up with each other, so the prospect of a new girl had them all rallied up. At least for me it meant on fantasizes to irritated me.

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A/N

i am going to try to Updated every saterday.

the nexst Chapter is called firsts


	4. Chapter 4 Firsts

The _Twilight Saga_ is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own. This is a work of fiction, and in no way related to the author. No copyright infringement intended. This story is no written for an commercial purposes. There. I think I've got the bases covered now. This goes for all future chapters and stories.

___________________________________________________

I would like to thank everyone how has reviewed and is reading this story. I hope that you continue enjoying it.  
I would also like to send a big thank you to my Bata.  
I could not do this with out her.

Thank you fire1

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A/N

I just wanted to let everyone know that this is the longest chapter I have written. It's is a lot like twilights fist chapter first sight however it has so big and I mean big different to it. I hope you enjoy it.  
Fire1

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Chapter 3: Firsts

Bulla's pov

Thanks to Jacob's driving lessens/tour of Forks, I found my way to school easily, even with the thick fog. I wished Jake went to school in Forks and not down on the La Push Indian Reversion. Most people seemed to sense there was some thing odd about me and tended to shy away form me, but Jake had not, so having him here would have made for a far less tense day.

I had always hated being the center of attention, but since I was new, and Forks High was small, I'd have to endure at least a little scrutiny before I was allowed to fade into the woodwork. I hoped that because I did not look like a girl from Phoenix should, they would just be disappointed, and pay me no mind. Instead of tan, blond, and sporty, I am ivory-skinned – so ivory-skinned, in fact, I almost looked translucent but I did have a clear canpicshen. I am slender – maybe even too slender – but soft, which did not fit well with my long brown hair and brown eyes.

However, I knew it was not just physical. I had never fit in and never would, because if I could not find like-minded people in a school with over seven hundred in just my junior class, what was the likelihood of finding any here? I had no hope of finding a niche in a school with only three hundred and fifty seven – now fifty-eight students. I have never related well to people am age. Okay, the truth is I don't relate to people, period. That included my mom: we were never in harmony, or on the exactly same page and I'm closest to her then anyone else. Okay, she had never let me around other people if she could help it until about a year ago, so maybe it was just that I'd never had a chance to be with other children when I was young.

I pulled up to the first building that had a small sign over the door reading 'Front Office'. I looked around, quickly taking in my new school. It looked more like a collection of suburban houses made of maroon-colored bricks with trees and shrubs all over them than a school. What's with no chain-link fences to keep everyone in and metal detectors to keep people safe? It was so open, like they trusted the students.

Leaving the warmth of my truck behind, feeling my self get colder form just stepping outside. I made my why to the office, being extremely careful not to slip and crack my head open on the ice. When I entered the brightly lit office it was even warmer than I'd hoped for. The first thing that struck me was all the plastic pots with plants growing in them. Weren't there enough plant outside? The room was cut in two by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and flyers. I could see three desks behind the counter a read-headed woman wearing glasses witch looked over at me and smiled.

"Hello, there. How can I help you?" she asked me with a knowing smile. Oh yeah: small town. She must have been expecting me. 'What other gossip is out there about why I'm here?' I wondered. When I started school back home there were new comers along with me, so no one even gave me a thought.

"Hi, I'm new here. My name is Isabella Swan." I said as politely as I could, trying not to roll my eyes: she obviously knew who I was.

"Oh, of course! I have your schedule and a map right here." She scrabbles around with a great amount of disorganization though the papers covering her desk space, and hands two of them over to me. "You will need to have all your teachers sign this paper and then bring it back to me at the end of the day. Well, I hope you have a wonderful first day, dear." I just smiled at her hoping, I just wouldn't be _that_ bad of a day.

I hopped back in my truck and drove off looking for the student parking. I looked around and spotted a lot of cars going into a parking lot to the left side of the school, so I followed sort. As I looked around, I noticed all the cars – with only one exception: a nice new silver car – were elderly cars like mine.

Instead of getting right out of my truck, I looked over the papers I had been given and memorized my schedule and class room numbers, than the map of the school, so I wouldn't have to pull out all this paper work all day.

I left my truck and headed to building three for English, the first class of the day. I walked in and went straight for the teacher, Mr. Mason, the schedule had read, and handed him my slip. He gawked as he read my name, which cased me to blush. While he was sighing my slip, the class was slowly starting to fill up. He handed the slip along with the book the class was reading and a reading list to me and then sent me to sit in the back of the room. Thankfully, he did not make me introduce myself to the class. As I made my way to my seat I took in how much smaller the classrooms and class size seem be in comparison to my old school.

After taking my seat, I looked up to see the other students trying to get a look at me. Thanks to my over-sensitive hearing, I could hear all the whispers breaking out.

"She's not tan! Hell, she's almost as pale as the Cullens," a girl with short red heir in the front row commented to her friend one row back. Then a boy with bad skin looked my way

"She's breath-takingly beautiful." He muttered to himself. Then a girl with long, bleached blond hair made a sly remark about all the boy's staring. I kept hearing whispers from people, saying I was pretty or wondering why was I not tan. Well, the pretty comments were nice and all, but I thought they were all pretty delusional. Then a few more about me looking as pale as these Cullen people. Just then the teacher started the class, and the comments died down.

The bell rang and signaled the end of class. Just as I was putting away my things, the boy with the bad skin and black hair walked up to me. He looked like the helpful, nerdy type.

"Hi! You're Isabella Swan, right?" I hate it when people call me Isabella.

"Just Bella," I corrected hem.

"Okay, sure. So what's your next class?"

"Government with Jefferson, in building six." Everyone within hearing distance was listening in. Is it really this boring here people?

"Hey, I'm heading that direction. Can I show you the way?" Sure, Overly-Helpful-Guy. I'd _love_ that.

I did not think it would be the best idly to tell hem I had already memorize the school map, so I just let him show me the way.

"Oh, I'm Eric, by the way." I smiled.

"Okay, Eric then."

"So what it like in Phoenix?" He asked.

"Sunny and hot." He glanced up at the rain then.

"It doesn't rain much there, huh?"

"Three or four time a year."

"So it's really sunny." Yes, Mr. Genius, I just said that. "You don't look very tan though."

"I'm half albino."

"That would have to be from your mother's side, right?" Lord! Could he really not have gotten that obvious of a joke? Maybe clouds and humor don't mix. Eric walked me all the way to the door of my class.

"Well, good luck. See you 'round."

The rest of my classes went by much the same. Teacher signing slip, giving me my class books, people whispering, etc. I had both Trig and Spanish with a overly talkative girl named Jessica. She is tiny, about two or three inches shorter then my five feet four inches, and wildly curly dark hair. She invited me to sit with her at lunch, which was after Spanish. Lunch: my least favorite time in school. It might actually be tied with P.E., now that I think about it.

As we entered the cafeteria, she was still going on about the teachers, the male student body, and so on. Did she ever stop taking? Well, at least she was doing all the talking and not asking me all about myself. I only got a small salad and ice tea for lunch. She led me to a table full of people and introduced me to everyone. There was a shy looking girl named Angela, a unfriendly looking girl name Lauren, a boy who looked at me with lustful eyes named Mike that Jessica could not keep her eyes off of, a boy named Tyler who was eyeing me up and down trying to see if he liked what he was seeing, and then two boys named Ben and Conner who just looked happy to have the new girl at the table.

After all the introductions were made, people stared eating, and I began guzzle down my tea. Tuning out the mindless chatter around me, my eyes scanned the crowded cafeteria. As my eyes reached the back of the cafeteria, I saw them: five of the must beautiful people I had ever seen. I had to blink. It was like looking into the sun at first. They looked more like angels then people. They could put the model of the world to shame. They looked almost like perfect, moving statues that the most talented artist of all time created.

They did not seem anything alike but still somehow similar. They all had the extinct same pale skin, paler even than me (not by much, just by one or two tones,) the same black eye color and shadows under their eyes, like they all needed a good night's sleep. I looked at the three men, admiring their perfect structures. I say men because at least two of the three looked too old for high school.

One of the three was build like a bear; he even had the dark, curly hair. He has some of the biggest muscled I had ever seen, like the weight lifters you see on TV.

The tallest of the three had muscles too, but not as big as the first guy. His hair is a lovely honey blond, but his most predominant feature was that he was covered in gently ridged scars, descending down from his jawbones to his neck and under the collar of his shirt.

The third and youngest looking seemed leaner, less bulky then the other two. His hair was the most wonderful untidy bronze, though. He had to be the must handsome man I had ever seen. I almost didn't want to look away. I had to though. Like all boys, he would feel ma staring.

The two girls looked almost like exact opposites. One was tall and statuesque, her long flowing blond hair and supple body prefect for a swim suit model. God, just looking at her made my self esteem go down.

The other girl… okay, was she a girl or a pixie? If you had asked me what a pixie looked like, she would have been what I would have described. With her cropped short deep black hair, and tiny frame to the extreme and small features, she looked like she should just sprout a pair of wings and fly away from us mere mortals.

They were all looking away form each other, looking away from everyone so it was safe for me to look at them for a while, until one of those roaming pairs of eyes picked me out. They all had food in front of them, but did not eat. Well, I was not about to fault them for that. It was unlike me, but I actually tried to hear what they were saying. But between the loud, crowed cafeteria and the fact they were whispering lower then must people, I could not make out what they were saying. I watched as the pixie put her hand on top of the honey blond guys hand and smiled at him. She had so much love in her eyes.

Just as I was about to look away Jessica caught me staring at them.

"They're the Cullens," she whispered into my ear. The Cullens? Oh, the ones people were saying I was like. Were they insane? I was not even in the same league with them. I was plain, and they were god-like.

Just then _he_ looked over at Jessica, but then shifted his gaze to look right into my eyes. I blushed and looked down, startled and embarrassed. But then I looked right back up. There was just something in his eyes that made me want to look into them. Sadly, by the time I looked up, he was no longer looking our way. When he had looked at us he looked bored, like he was just looking because some one called him.

"That was Edward Cullen," She informed me. "The biggest one is Emmet Cullen, and the one who looks constipated, with the blond hair, is Jasper Hale. The blond girl is his twin sister, Rosalie Hale and the tiny, black haired girl is Alice Cullen. They all live with Dr. Cullen and his wife." As Jessica was telling me all of this, I watched as Edward beginning whispering to the others, but they did not even look at him. Just kept right on staring at nothing.

"They're all very good looking." I said.

"You could say that, but they're all 'together'. Emmet and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And get this: they all live together." Her voice held all possible kinds of condemnation and criticism.

"Edward, Emmet and Alice don't look related." I mumbled to her.

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen and his wife are only in their late twenties or early thirties. Alice, Emmet and Edward are all adopted, and the Hale twins are their foster kids. I guess they're eighteen now, but they've been with the Cullens since they were eight, from what I've heard. I think Mrs. Cullen is their aunt." I smiled at the thought. Mr. and Mrs. Cullen must be very kind people.

"They soand like wonderful people do some much for them."

"I don't think Mrs. Cullen can have kids," Jessica stated, as if that lessened their kindness in some way. I looked away form her then and back to the Cullens/Hales to meet Edwards penetrating gaze. He no longer looked bored. In fact, he looked frustrated and confused, but there was kindness there as well. I blushed but could not bring myself to look away. I felt trapped by his gaze.

Jessica looked over at me and stared to giggle, breaking the trance, so I turned my eyes her way.

"Edward is attractive, but don't get your hopes up. He doesn't date. Apparently, none of the girls here are good enough for him." I wondered if the sour tone in her voice was because he had turned her down at some point. I decided it probably was.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." Just then he turned and looked at Alice, his pixie sister. I watched as her eyes glazed over, and she became very still, almost impossibly so. She looked like she was in some kind of trance. It was only for a couple of seconds, before she just come right back out of whatever it was. She and Edward just looked at each other, and then left their table together abruptly. Their siblings looked after them in confusion. They were both so graceful. I wished I could be that graceful, but no-o-o-o, I had to have dizzy spells. Those alone made me the world's biggest klutz.

Shortly after they left their table, an all too familiar feeling hit me. Damn, I should have know it was time for my monthly friend to show up.

"Sorry, Jessica, I have to go. Girl things." I whispered to her.

"Oh, do you wont me to come with you, to show you were the girls' room is?"

"That's okay, I know where it is. Thanks though." I picked up my uneaten salad and empty Ice Tea. Just as I was heading to throw them away I heard Jessica talking to Lauren.

"Did you see that? She didn't eat a thing! I wonder if she has an eat disorder."

"Well, she _is_ too skinny if you ask me. God, I don't see why all the boy were staring at her, and even Edward was looking at her. She's not that pretty." Lauren responded in a very prim tone. I was going to have to stay away from her.

I made my way out of the cafeteria. When I was just outside the door, two of the loveliest scents hit my nose. I breathed in deep through my mouth so I could taste it. The stronger of the two was almost like honey-cinnamon-pine and it was strongly mixed with something like a honey-lilac and sun-flavored scent. The honey-lilac and sun-flavored scent was moving away form me towards the classrooms. The honey-cinnamon-pine scent was still somewhere near by.

The presence of the scents had distracted me from going to the girl's bathroom, but my body soon reminded me of why I was out there. Just as I rounded the corner of the hallway, a wave of dizziness hit me, and hit me hard. I ended up tripping over my own feet, and flying several yards before landing on the floor with an enormously uncomfortable _thump_. I was surprised when I found myself being helped up by some ones hands, but what surprised me more was whoever was helping me was the owner of the honey-cinnamon-pine scent.

"Are you all right?" asked a voice like wind chimes, surprise and anxiety not detracting from its general attractiveness. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone fall with quite so much elegance." Astonishment went through me as I looked up into the black eyes of Alice Cullen.

"Yes, thank you." I said, blushing, and quickly righted myself.

"My name is Alice Cullen. You must be Isabella Swan," she said with a warm smile. "Are you sure you're alright? Would you like me to show you were the nurse's office is?"

"Call me Bella, and no, I'm just clumsy." Mom always told me not to let anyone in the medical field look me over. "And I was in a bit of a rush." Anther blush hit my face as I went on. I could feel those damn girl problems sneaking up on me. "Sorry about falling on you. Are you okay?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine," she said with a amused look on her face.

"Well, I should go, and… well… you know." I hated talking about this kind of thing.

After leaving the bathroom and heading to Biology, I came across that honey-lilac and sun-flavored scent again. It smelled amazing, even mixed with all the other students' scents, it was strong and thick, and it seemed to only be getting stronger the closer I got to class. I followed it right to the door of my Advanced Biology class. Whoever owned the scent was in this class with me. What a wonderful coincidence.

I stopped at the entrance of my new Advanced Biology class, trying to pinpoint who was blessed with this intoxicating scent. Scanning the room with my eyes, I noticed that only one lab table had only one person, and that person was none other then the Greek god-ish Edward Cullen. I walked into the room, taking the path that would allow me to walk closest to Edward and just underneath the heater vent.

Two things happened simultaneously as I set foot under the heating vent: I realized Edward was the owner of the honey-lilac and sun-favored scent, causing me to look his direction, and as I did, he went rigid in his seat and when our eyes met, he looked hostile, and furious.

Looking away as I made my way to the teacher, Mr. Banner, to get my slip singed as I had been doing all day, I was bewildered by the antagonistic glare he had given me: Why should he be so angry with me? Yes, people here seemed to not be so wary of me, but in the past, people would avoid me, whispering about me giving them the creeps. But angry?

My thoughts were interrupted when Mr. Banner handed me my singed slip and my book for the class. He then sent me to sent at the only available set in the class. The ONLY available seat in class.

Making my was to my seat next to Edward I was filled with sadness. He had seemed like a nice person when I had looked at him early at lunch, and his sister was really nice too. I did not want to cause him uneasiness. I also did not want to admit to myself that there were some other reasons I was feeling sad about all of this too. I was drawn to him and I knew better, I needed to stop what every that attraction was. I could not let people know I was different.

I took my seat, and Edward stiffened and moved as far as he could from me, edging towards the end of the table. Did I smell bad to him or something? I had always liked my scent: it's flowery, and smelled most strongly of freesias, and I like what my strawberry shampoo brought to it. I let my hair fall in between us as a shield. I tried to pay attention to the class, but I had already studied the material from this quarter, and know it perfectly.

The entire class, Edward never loosened his stiff position. I couldn't ever hear him breathing, though he must have been, or he would have passed out. As I peeked at him occasionally through my hair, I noticed that his hands were clenched into tight fists on top of his legs, and that he was not nearly as small as he'd looked sitting next to his heavily built brother.

The class seemed to go on forever. I looked at the clock frequently to see how long was left, until finally there were only about three minutes left. So I looked over at Edward. And immediately regretted it. I was met with him glaring icily down at me, his eyes, if possible, looked even blacker and filled with even more revulsion. I looked away, feeling bad that I had somehow caused this. Just then, the bell rang loudly and Edward was out of his seat like a shot. He was even taller then he looked sitting down. Why could I not stop examining him? He was out of the door faster then I could have imagined.

Edward pov

I could not let the monster in me win! So for the fist time I had to run from temptation. I now know what Alice's vision was about.

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Preview  
chapter 5, Reflect

The girl appeared to posses the same pale skin as us, she smelled VERY alluring, as I had discovered, and she looked just about as beautiful as us. The girl was skinny, with a heart shaped face; long reddish brown silky hair, its length fell just below her waist.  
The girl was nothing like what the children had been expecting. For one thing, she was not tan in the least. I had to admit, for someone who had lived in Phoenix that was unusual. She was quickly become the star in most of the males' sexual fantasies, like some shiny now toy. It took me off-guard how much this seemed to distress me.


	5. Chapter 5 Reflect

Think you.

I would like to think BlueMizuki and Sherry80 for there reviews. I enjoy seeing what people think of my story.

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A/N  
This chapter is a lot like midnight sun.  
After this chapter the story will start to stray more and more from the twilight books and became it own story.

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Chapter 4: Reflect

Edwards, pov

It had been six days now that I had fist arrived at the home of our extended family in the Denali wilderness, the only other vegetarian vampires we are aware of. Alice had informed them of my journey, so they knew to expect me. To pardon my impolite behavior, as this was not a social call (much to Tanya's disappointment) I had tried to stay out of their way as much as possible. I needed the emptiness of the Denali wilderness to sort things out; I needed to have my thoughts alone running through my mind.

I laid back into the icy snow, allowing the ice to rub up against my skin like freezing silk, and looked up at the magnificent night sky. At least, it would have been magnificent, if it were not reflecting the events that led me to run here.

_The day had started much like any and all other days at Forks High School: mundanely. However, the lack of fantasies about my family and myself was a welcome change of pace. To my dismay, however, by the second class of the day, the children slowly began to think of us again. It was not the same vulgar fantasies of before: no, it was something that made very little sense. They were comparing us to the new student, Isabella Swan. She corrected everyone who asked weather she knew about us, or was related to us. She had never seen us before._

_The girl appeared to posses the same pale skin as us, she smelled VERY alluring, as I had discovered, and she looked just about as beautiful as us. The girl was skinny, with a heart shaped face; long reddish brown silky hair, its length fell just below her waist. _

_The girl was nothing like what the children had been expecting. For one thing, she was not tan in the least. I had to admit, for someone who had lived in Phoenix that was unusual. She was quickly becoming the star in most of the males' sexual fantasies, like some shiny now toy. It took me off-guard how much this seemed to distress me. When the distress got to be too much for me, I decided I needed to stop thinking about the girl and concentrate on school. Unusual events lead to unusual behavior._

_At lunch, my family and I sat in our usual table in the back of the room, as far from the human children as we could get. It had been just over two weeks since our last hunting trip, and Jasper was having a hard time with his thirst. He was the newest to the 'vegetarian life' and it was still hard on him to be around humans all day._

_Alice put her hand on his and projected her love and acceptance to him. Jasper is an empathies, so he can feel all the emotions around him, and send out his emotions to others. Alice could always take Jaspers mind off his thirst though. After all, she was his mate._

_'….__Edward Cullen….' _

_In a reflex reaction, I turned to my name being thought. It was strange how much more sensitive I was to thought rather than speech. Ugh, I should have known: Jessica Stanly. When we had fist arrived in Forks, she would place me beside her in her impossibly vulgar fantasies, so it was a relief when she turned her attention to Mike Newton instead. My eyes swept right past hers and looked into an unexpected pair of old deep chocolate brown ones, with just a little bit of black to them. Similar to the black our eyes get when we have not fed or are aroused. Or both._

_The girl blushed, enhancing her heart-shaped face. Embarrassment showing plainly in her eyes and face as she lowered her eyes from mine. I could hear Jessica Stanly telling her all the gossip about my family. I was bored with Jessica gossip, however it was nice to see the new girls face for myself. The male children had been right: she was a stunning young woman. Stunning for a human, I quickly corrected myself. _

_I informed my family out of habit that Stanly was telling the now girl about us. Everyone but Emmet seemed bored. He wasn't even that interested himself, but asked anyway._

_"So Eddie, what does she think about us? Is Jessica making it good and scaring her for us?" It was my responsibly to know these things, given that I'm the mind reader. I acted as look-out for our family, making sure no one ever learned what we were. It was the one and only true rule of being a vampire: Keep the secret. Let no one know of the existence of our kind._

_I turned my attention to the pair to hear what it was this new girl thought of us, the family she had been compared to all day and asked if she'd been related to. At first I thought she had nothing going through her mind at all, but as I looked up I could see she had an interested look on her face. She was clearly thinking SOMETHING. Her eyes were telling me she was taking in everything being told to her, and probably making very clever connections about them. I tried to listen harder, which caused all the voices I was trying to keep at bay to blast into my head. _

_Jessica, on the outside, was good at faking friendships, but her thoughts betrayed her: she just wanted the girl around so she could be the center of attention, and fuming that Mike wasn't looking at her, preferring to ogle the new girl instead. _

_Lauren was, if not worse, then at least as bad. She was wildly jealous of the new girl for stealing the attention of the boys, which she thought rightfully belonged to her. She had no specific basis for this, as I knew for a fact that none of the males liked her, but her self-centered nature made her feel entitled. _

_Mike was letting his mind wander, trying to mentally undress the girl, picturing what it would be like to have her in his bed. _

_Tyler's mind was just as bad and doubly unnerving. He was actually considering driving over to her house and trying to get a look at her undressed through the window. _

_My reaction to their thoughts surprised me: I wanted to go over there and take her away from them, shield her from the inner workings of their ugly minds. I made myself leave their minds behind, trying to shake the strangely dirty feeling their thoughts left on me._

_Ben and Conner had both surmised that she was one of the prettiest girls they had every laid eyes on, but, like Rose and Alice, out of their league. Ben was also thinking she was much like his crush, Angela, in that they were both rather shy and nice and nervous looking. I find myself happy that their minds were not like Mike and Tyler's: they were respectful._

_Angela, like always, had one of the gentlest minds in the school. She felt bad for the girl. She could see how hard it was for her to sit there with people she didn't know all looking at her like she was a piece of candy. She wondered why she looked so scared when people asked her questions about herself, like she did not want to tell anyone about herself. She took that to mean she was shy. She also could not help but view her as looking like a porcelain doll, and I could not help but agree with that. The girl did look rather fragile and delicate._

_I took all this in while also realizing one very unsettling fact: I could hear every person in room and know what they were thinking, without having to look. But where the girl sat, where her thoughts should be, I could hear nothing. I could not hear the thoughts of Isabella Swan. Anxiety overcame me. This had never happened before. Was I broken? Was it temporary? Could I fix it? This could get severely frustrating. _

_Jessica had been telling the girl how we were all 'adopted' and 'foster kids', and at the end of her little speech the girl spoke her hidden thoughts, her voice ringing like golden wind chimes to my secretively listening ears._

"_They sound like wonderful people to do so much for them." She was referring (I assumed) to my parents._ _The look in her eyes as she glanced over at our table showed she meant it, and were filled with respect for (I assumed) my parents. It made me smile that she could see their kindness though the rather disparaging picture Jessica painted of us._

_Jessica continued her virtual dissertation on us, rambling on about how all of us were either 'taken' (as in, everyone but me), or 'too good for everyone here' (as in, me), and I gave a miniscule smirk at her bitter tone. 'Even if I were to be attracted to a human, Miss Jessica Stanly, it would NOT be you.' I felt slight remorse that the thought would never reach her dim, childish, selfish mind. How I would have loved to see and hear that reaction. _

_Jasper mentally called out to me just then: "Hey, man what's with your emotions? They're all over the place. Get a grip!"_

_But before I could answer him, Alice was thrown into a vision._

_I was running as fast as I could, a look of shame, rage, and desperation on my face. Running through the forest towards the north. Towards Alaska._

_The vision ending there. Alice and I looked at each other, both of us in complete shock. Alice mental voice called out to me: 'We need to talk about this, Edward. Let's go out into the hall.'_

_We both left our seats, and walked through the crowded cafeteria, through the double swing doors, and a small ways away form the other students lingering just out side of the doors. As we walked, her mind was full of worry and concern, and I was just plain confused. Why on Earth was I running? What did I have to feel ashamed of? And the biggest question of them all, what had led to this decision? _

_'Edward, what's going on? Why are you leaving us?' Alice's pained mental voice asked me. I almost couldn't bear to look down at her anguished expression. Of all my siblings, she was the one I was closest to, the one I most wanted happy and safe. And although it was hardly logical to blame myself for the pain her vision-Edward had caused, I did anyway._

_"I'm not leaving any of you," I reassured her, filling my voice with comfort and confidence. But part (and I'll admit, it was a fairly large part) of me was on edge: What had I chosen in the last couple of minuets, or what would I choose in the next few hours, that would cause me to run? Alice's vision would happen in the very near future, if it came true: as I ran, I'd been wearing the exact same clothing as I was now._

_Alice scoured my future again, trying to get some answers. Her first vision was of me in my Biology class… and just sitting there. Although I looked tenser than usual, there was nothing amiss. The next was of me running again. As she came out of her visions, she looked right at me with those big, dark, puppy-dog eyes that she does so well when she wants to, looking all kinds of sad and pleading and silently hurt. 'Edward, please don't leave.' Okay, that was the final straw. When Alice starts pouting, the freaking UN has to be called in to get her happy again. There was something very wrong here. For one thing, why would I run? _

_I looked straight down into Alice's eyes, and with complete confidence this time: "Alice, I am not going anywhere. Trust me." But being the all seeing vampire-pixie, she is did not look convinced. So I turned around then a went straight for my Advanced Biology class, determined to prove her wrong. Edward Cullen was NOT a runner._

_I sat at my lab table, going over my day again and again in my mind to see if there was anything that would cause me to up and run away from everything, but I could not find anything for the life of me. Okay, so maybe one thing that was different was the silent girl, but that shouldn't be enough to make me run. She wasn't that scary. _

_But when Mr. Banner looked up at the classroom door, the girl was sanding there. I saw her in his mind, rather awkward and nervous looking. As he looked at her, his mind flashed to the face of her mother as she had looked at that age when she had also been his student there, but then his mind flickered to another face, one that looked eerily similar to both the girl's and her mother. She almost might have been her mother's twin. Well, thats the first I'd heard of this._

_I watched her through Mr. Banner's eyes. He did not take in her face as I did through his eyes. She was wearing a look like she was very happy about something. I realized, with a jolt, that she was looking straight at my back. Well, looks like its time to meet my new lab partner, seeing as I am the one in this class lacking one. I wondered why Alice hadn't seen this._

_She made her way up to Mr. Banner, coming down the row closest to my seat. Just as she past under the heating vent, however, everything changed._

_When her scent hit my throat, that glorious, terrible, mouth-watering, will-power-deteriorating, intoxicating, strawberry-freesias scent, I no longer had any of the humanity I had worked so long to foster. I froze, the result of two instincts: one, not to alarm her. Lull the prey into a false sense of security, then attack. The second one though, was the instinct not to reveal myself for what I was. Although I could have easily killed the rest of the children present, my self-preservation was still there. One fact still remained though: I was a predator, and she was my prey. _

_It took all the will power I had not to grab her and start drinking her down then and there. As I looked into her eyes as she passed, I could see the monster I really was reflected back at me. I hated that monster, and I hated her for bringing him out in me. But seeing myself that way allowed me to somewhat regain my self-control, if just a small bout. I could hold my breath. I HAD to hold my breath. _

_The girl sat down next to me I could feel her scent and heat rolling off of her in waves. One thing that was not rolling of her however, was her thoughts, and this unnerved me all over again. I felt blind, helpless, defeated. She was making it all too tempting to just kill everyone there and satisfiy myself with her blood. However, I knew I must not do it. It would expose us beyond any shadow of doubt, and I simply could not be responsible for that. No. I'm stronger then this. I can and will resist._

_As the class progressed, I sat there watching the girl with hate-filled eyes. I knew my hate was unjust, but it felt like she was sent here specifically to be my undoing. Throughout the class, she would peek at me through her hair, probably imagining herself to be secretive. _

_She held sadness and confusion in her eyes, like she knew what she was doing to me and regretted it. I knew there was kindness in her, but I could not bring my self to care. _

_The bell rang, releasing me from my fiery hell. Yes, there was fire. I could still feel its fire in my throat, begging me to cool it with her blood. I knew then that if I was to win against the monster in me, I would have to run. I could not let the monster in me win! So for the fist time I had to run from temptation. I now know what Alice's vision was about._

The scene ended, having replayed in front of my eyes for the thousandth time since my arrival here six days ago. But this time something stuck out: I was not the kind of man to run from my problems, so what was I doing here? I needed to face this head on. I would not let this girl's scent keep me from my family, whom I loved.

I looked up at the sky again, her face was staring down at me, asking a silent question: what would this mean for her? I had no answer. I resolved then and there that I would not let the monster win, and I would not let her keep me from were I belonged. I would go and bid my extended family farewell, and I would head home, knowing Alice would see me coming, so I would have to leave soon. I repeated to my self: Edward Cullen is NOT a runner.

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**Preview**: phone calls.

"Hey Bella, it's Jake. I just wanted to know how the truck was running. Oh, and if you made it through your first week of school without anyone eating you alive," he chuckled at he own joke.  
"The truck is running great. Thanks for doing such a good job on it. And… well, my first week was… oh, I don't even know." I hated talking about myself, and with Jake I had to be extra careful because he was just so darn easy to talk to. And I knew there were things about me I was not supposed to tell people.  
"Oh, come on, Bella, tell me." He sounded like some sort of little brother, whining for a confiscated toy. And I knew right then that I would give in… at least a little.

See you next Saturday.  
Fire1


	6. Chapter 6 phone calls

Disclaimer : The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own.

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Chapter 5: Phone Calls

Bella's pov

I was still trying to hold on to sleep when the unpleasant smell of bacon being fried wafted into my room. It was Sunday, for crying out loud! Hasn't anyone every told Charlie that Sundays are for sleeping in? It was only 7 AM! I had only gotten three hours of sleep, thanks to my damn Peeping Tom. When was he going to learn he would never see anything?

Knowing sleep was now lost to me, I pulled myself from my bed and went down stairs to see why Charlie was up so early. When I entered the kitchen, he looked up at me and smiled.

"Hey, sleepy-head."

"Dad, it's Sunday. Why are you up this early?" I asked with a yawn.

"I was going to go fishing, but I figured since today is your first weekend here, I thought you might want me to stay home with you." He handed me a cup of hot tea, and led me to the table. He placed a large plate of bacon and eggs in front of me. I resisted the urge to gag at the scent.

I picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled on it dubiously. Meat was probably the hardest thing for me to choke down. It just smelled _wrong_ when it was cooking, even though after eating it I would have fewer dizzy spells.

As I sat trying to look like I was eating more than I was, I thought that Charlie must have been up at the crack of dawn if he had been planning on going fishing. Not that he wasn't usually up at the crack of dawn, but on Sundays, it seemed morally flawed somehow.

"You know, Dad, if you want to go fishing, you can. I have to do some homework, and I was thinking of cleaning and going to the grocery store today, so you don't need to baby-sit me. I'll be okay."

He looked a little abashed, but also pleased to hear this.

"Billy says he's having a few guy over to watch the game at twelve today, so maybe I could stop by. Well, I'll leave you to get all your things done."

"Okay. I would think you would get bored sitting around here while I did everything."

I got up, taking my almost-full plate to the sink.

"Bells?" I knew what he was going to say, so I cut him off.

"Dad, if I tried eating any more then this it would all just come right back up. Trust me, I'm just fine." He looked really upset, but I could not understand why.

It was already ten-thirty when I was done showering and getting dressed. Charlie had set out for Billy's. I was pondering what to do first on my long to-do list when the phone rang.

"Hello, Swan residence, Bella speaking."

"Hey Bella, it's Jake. I just wanted to know how the truck was running. Oh, and if you made it through your first week of school without anyone eating you alive," he chuckled at he own joke.

"The truck is running great. Thanks for doing such a good job on it. And… well, my first week was… oh, I don't even know." I hated talking about myself, and with Jake I had to be extra careful because he was just so darn easy to talk to. And I knew there were things about me I was not supposed to tell people.

"Oh, come on, Bella, tell me." He sounded like some sort of little brother, whining for a confiscated toy. And I knew right then that I would give in… at least a little.

"Well, I have met a few nice people and made friends with at least two girls. Angela, who I like a lot. She's shy, like me and doesn't force me to talk about myself. The other is Jessica. She likes to lead a conversion, so I don't have to talk much."

Jake chuckled. "It sounds like you're making friends just based off of how little they make you speak."

"Is that bad?" I demanded, vaguely defensive. I really did like my new friends, but I also liked not having to talk to them.

"No no no, just saying," he responded. "What else?"

"Um… this guy Mike won't stop asking me out… it's kind of annoying actually. I don't like him." I glanced out the window worriedly, wondering how much more I should tell him.

"Why, Bel-la! Already turning guys down, huh? You're a fast worker."

"JAKE!" I screeched, horrified at his tone.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I swear, Bells, I'm sorry." He was laughing though, so I could tell he wasn't. I scowled into the phone.

"Trust me, Jake, there are NO guys at that school that I would even remotely consider going out with. What with Mike's thick skull, and Tyler being a —" I stopped short, wondering if it was really such a good idea to tell Jake all those icky details.

Noticing my hesitation, Jake's tone changed drastically. "Tyler's being a what, Bella?" He was serious now.

I sighed. I had known I'd give in sooner or later. "Tyler's been peeking in my window at night from a little bit down the street. He has binoculars."

"WHAT?!"

"No, Jake, it's really okay, seriously–"

"How long has this been going on? All week?"

"…Yes." I muttered. I'd been hoping to downplay the specifics, so that Jake wouldn't be too worried. No such luck though. When he guesses straight on, I can't lie. I'm a terrible liar. And I'm pretty sure Jake knows that. Darn him. "But you know what? It's okay, because he doesn't bother me at school after I told Rose and Jasper what happened. And all he does is look, and it's not like I actually do anything in my room except homework and sleep. And my windows are always closed, so –"

"Does your dad know?"

"Mmmm…no."

"Mmmm…what?"

"He doesn't, but as long as you don't come down and kill the guy, I promise I'll tell him later, okay?" Please say okay, Jake, PLEASE say okay! I don't need this kind of attention!

Jake took a big breath "Ok…." I could hear the reluctance in his voice.

I felt bad knowing I would break my promise to him about telling Charlie, but I just couldn't bring myself to add to Charlie's growing list of concerns about me.

I knew I had to calm his anxiety somehow. "Jake, it's not as bad as you're picturing, trust me. And I did tell two people, like I send."

Hopefully, telling him about Tuesday would help his anxiety, so I quickly lunched into the story.

"On Tuesday I knew I needed to steer clear of Tyler, so I was on the look-out for him. But right before lunch, he spotted me. I end up spinning around too quickly to avoid him and plowed right into Rose.

"She looked pretty annoyed at me launching myself right into to her. As I was apologizing, I kept looking back nervously to see what he was doing, while, he…"

"'While he' what, Bella?" the anxiety in his voice seemed to be growing. "Spit it out!"

I took a calming breath before I went on. "He stopped and leaned up against the far wall, like he was waiting for me to be alone, and it scared me."

"YOU THINK HE –!"

"Calm down, Jake, you're shouting like a mad man."

"You think he was trying to get you alone?" His voices was shaded with concern, half question, half verification, and I could just hear it through how pissed he was. "Bella, this is bad." I interrupted him then. After all, I was telling him all this so he would calm down.

"Yes, Jake, I think he was trying to get me alone, but can I please finish?"

"Go on, then" he grumbled.

"So I was scared, and I guess unconsciously I keep scooting closer to Rose and Jasper. I think that's what tipped them off that something was wrong. Rose must have picked up on it more, because when she looked down at me, instead of being pissed and annoyed like I had expected, she looked sympathetic and concerned, and pulled me closer to her. Jasper put his hand on my shoulder, and I felt calmer right away, somehow. He's a very soothing person, I guess. Once he could tell I had calmed down, he asked what was going on.

"Then I _completely_ embarrassed myself by bursting out crying as I told them about waking up the night before with the creeps and looking out my window to see Tyler sitting in his van outside my house, using binoculars to look into my bedroom window.

"I told them how I had been trying to avoid him all day and that it seemed like he was trying to get me alone. Rose looked awfully mad about something, though it'd be too strange to think she'd be mad for my sake. Anyway, Tyler was still looking at us, and I think Jasper could tell that I didn't want to be on my own just then. He asked if I wanted Rose to walk with me to the cafeteria, and if he should distract Tyler. I felt like I was in some spy flick! Like 'Agent X, please escort the fugitive to the safe house. I'll take care of the renegade,' or something, right?" My weak attempt to make Jake laugh failed utterly. His end of the line was totally silent. "Seriously Jake, I'm _fine._ Can we _not_ play the Worry-About-Bella-Till-Steam-Comes-Out-Of-Our-Ears Game? Rose took me into the caff where I could be with Ang and Jessica until class, and Jasper stalled Tyler. There's _nothing to worry about."_

Jake let out a loud huff. "Bella, just _promise _me you will call me if it gets _even the littlest bit worse." _

"I promise, Jake." I tried to pour as much conviction into my voice as I could so he would let the whole thing drop. Suddenly remembering that Charlie was on his way over to Jake's house as I sat on the phone with him, talking about things I wanted to keep very much on the low-down, I sought for to change the subject to, fast!

"You know what, Jake?" I chirped, a little too happily.

"No… What, Bella?" his voice was suspicious, and I could feel his eyes rolling from were I sat.

"Well, I told you how I met Rose and Jasper, and that was perfectly normal and fine," Jake snorted. He clearly didn't agree. "But I feel like I'm some kind of plague to their family or something. I have run straight into, or fallen in front of, almost all of them at some point this week." And chased one out of school, but I was _not _going to tell Jake about that. That information was strictly confidential.

"Okay, I'll bite. What are you trying to distract me with? Oh, I mean tell me everything, I'm _dying_ to know." I wouldn't have thought sarcasm would suit Jake, but it seemed they got along quite well.

"Well, on Monday I tripped right in front of Alice, Jasper's girlfriend and sister, but she was really nice about it and helped me up and everything. She didn't even laugh at me."

"Hey, wait, what do you mean sister _and_ girlfriend?" he sounded confused at that one. And rightfully so, I supposed. It wasn't a typical family set-up.

"They're _adopted_ siblings: no blood relation at all, Jake."

"Oh, okay. That's fine, I guess." Good, I seemed to be getting his mind off of the Tyler thing.

"I actually ran right into her and her mom on Saturday too. They accepted my apology with no hard feelings about the whole thing, even though I practically knocked over their cart."

"Where on Saturday?" Jake asked

"Oh, at the hardware store. I was trying to get some darker curtains for my room, but they didn't have anything there. Turns out I may have to go to Port Angeles to get some."

"Well, I think it's good that you're trying to make it harder for him to see in." Shit, did I just bring us back to the peeping thing again?

"Well I'm glad you approve, Jake. Lets see then, where was I…?"

"You being some kind of plague on this poor family." Well, I was a plague to my family too, but I knew if I voiced that one I would have to tell him all the odd things about my self, and that would not go over too well.

"Okay, so on Thursday I was leaving the caff, and I tripped right in front of Emmet. Oh, I should tell you: Emmet is freaking HUGE, seriously. I think everyone in school is scared of him because of it. So when I fell right there in his path, the entire cafeteria went silent except for Emmet. He busted up laughing at me, and then he helped me up and said something like he wanted to keep me as a pet, but I don't think he meant for me to hear him because he seemed really surprised and embarrassed when I responded. He ended up taking me to class, and we were joking together the whole way. I don't see why everyone's so scared of him. He's really nice."

"Bella, what have I told you about consorting with giants? Giants are not safe."

"Isn't it that _I'm_ not safe for anyone? I thought that's what you were always telling me."

"Yeah, that too. I guess you and giants would actually get along great." Neither one of us could help the laughter after that.

"Okay...Okay… So what's been going on down the rez?" I asked while trying to stop the laughter.

"Mmm, oh, I don't know. Mostly the same old thing." I could hear the hesitation in his voice and know something must be up.

"Jake, whatever it is, you can tell me."

"How could you tell anything was wrong?"

"Your voice, Jake. You sound really upset about something. Come on, it might help to let it out. Besides, I'm an outsider. Aside from you and Billy I never meet anyone from the rez so I can be objective." He was silent for minute, and if I couldn't have heard his heavy breathing, I would have thought he'd had hung up on me.

"Jake, whatever it is, it will be okay." I wished I had gone down there with Charlie. I could tell what ever it was that he didn't want to say, was killing him.

"There's something strange going on down here Bella, and I don't know what to do about it." He voice was laced with hurt and confusion. "Some of the guys I used to hang out with have started avoiding everyone, and doing really stupid shit. I know it sounds lame if I say it like that, but it's true. At first it was just this guy Sam who I don't really know, but now Embry's doing it too, and he's a good friend of mine. Or he WAS, until he gave everyone the proverbial finger and started leaping off cliffs just for the hell of it." Yep. Jake was definitely bitter about this.

"Wait, jumping off cliffs?"

"Yeah. Fully stupid." He was sad, and I wished there was something I could do to help him. After all, Jake was the first friend I'd made after coming here. Okay, he was my first friend, period.

"Jake, is there anything I can do to help?" I was beginning to feel sad too after hearing about the loss of his friend.

"No, I don't think there is… but thanks…. Hey, why don't you come down and say hi some time next week, okay? I could show you around the res." He wanted me to go down and visit him? Wow! I could almost hear what my mother would be saying: 'Bella, it's your first play date! I'm so proud of you!' I almost laughed out loud.

"Yeah, sure, that would be great! When—" but before I could ask when he wanted me to be there, I heard a commotion on the other end of the line.

"Bella, all the guys just showed up to watch the game, so I'd better get going."

"Have fun taking care of the old men, Jake."

"Sure, sure. Bye, Bella."

"Bye, Jake. See you some time next week."

"Yep."

I hung up the phone. Well, what did I want to do first on my long list of Things Needing To Be Cleaned? Just as I decided to start off with cleaning the bathroom because that would take the least time, the phone rang again. "Hello, Swan residence, Bella speaking."

"Bella, hi, it's Mike." He sounded a little too happy about something and as he identified himself, but all I could think of was how he'd gotten his hands on my phone number.

"Oh, hi Mike." It was hard to keep my voice friendly. "Um, how can I help you?"

"Um… I wanted to know…" Oh, here it comes. He's going to ask me out again. "…if you have plans today." I was about to tell him I was busy, like always, but he went on before I could get a word in edgewise. "Well, you know we have that paper to write with our lab partners in Bio, and since Edward's been out, I thought you might want to work with me and my lab partner on it?" Oh no, this sucked! Ang was his lab partner. I did like her a lot, but for one thing, I had my long to-do list, and two, Mr. Banner extended the paper's due date for me, seeing how Edward's been out of school.

"Thanks Mike and thank Ang for me too, but Mr. Banner extended our paper until next Friday."

"Oh, well, that was cool of him. Well, you could still come over and hang out with us."

"Sorry, Mike, but I have I lot to do today." For once, that excuse was the truth. I was glad that 'excuses' didn't fall under the category of 'lies', otherwise I'd have been spending every spare second with Mike Newton, and that idea did not appeal to me in the least.

"Oh, well, see you tomorrow," he said, sounding dejected.

"Bye, Mike." I was working hard not to sound relieved. That was another bullet dodged.

After hanging up the phone yet again, I began to clean up the kitchen and think back over my first week here, both at school and just in general. I had made one good friend in Jake, and two girl friends in Jessica and Angela. Only one person seemed to have a strong reaction to me. A strong negative reaction, anyway. Everyone else seemed to accept me, unlike back home, and I couldn't help but wonder why that was.

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**Preview:** The Collective 'Oh, Shit'

"I think I know why Edward had such a strong reaction to her," Alice piped up. "She was bleeding when she went to Bio. It was the first day of her menstrual cycle, and it had already been over two weeks seen we hunted."

As she informed everyone of this, she ran the event of Bella and her in the hall for me to experience. As I watched her trip, I found myself wanting to reach out and grab her before she was hurt. She was just so fragile-looking; a large part of me wanted to protect her. But of course, those were probably all Alice's emotions, projected onto me by sharing brain space.


	7. Chapter 7 oh shit

The _Twilight Saga_ is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own. This is a work of fiction, and in no way related to the author. No copyright infringement intended. This story is no written for an commercial purposes. There. I think I've got the bases covered now. This goes for all future chapters and stories.

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I would like to thank everyone how has reviewed and is reading this story. I hope that you continue enjoying it.  
I would also like to send a big thank you to my Bata.  
I could not do this with out her.

Thank you fire1

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Chapter six: The Collective 'Oh, Shit'

Edward's POV

As I ran home from Alaska, I alternately dreaded the conversion I knew I would be arriving home to, and not looking forward to explaining everything. I had told no one why I had run off, or when I would be home, if at all. I wondered if Alice had had a vision yet of the information I would shortly be sharing with them, and if she had told. Knowing Alice, she'd have left that bombshell for me to drop.

I was close enough now to hear my family's thoughts, and they were not what I was expecting in the least. Alice was in a vision, which wasn't unusual, but from what I could tell, it was showing nothing important at all. She was just looking at an empty, nondescript, blue-painted bedroom, although something about that room felt familiar: I wanted to go there and sit in rocking chair, lean on that window sill, lie on that bed. How odd. The rest of the family members were all thinking something along the lines of '_ will she see it this time?'_, though the 'it' proved startlingly vague. They all sounded mentally urgent or nervous, and everyone was on edge.

Alice's vision went from the empty bedroom to seeing me walk into the living room, looking confused, to find everyone gathered there. Confusion, yes, that was all I seemed to be feeling this last week.

"Edward will be here in about two seconds." Alice announced to the rest of the family. With Alice's announcement, the family's collective thoughts shifted from urgent and nervous to happiness, concern, and most of all, relief.

As I made my way into the living room, Esme, my mother in this life, mentally asked if I was okay and started telling me how much she had missed her first son. She was in full-on mother mode. I could see that my leaving had caused her pain, and seeing that pain filled me with regret for leaving. I should have stayed and let my family help me through this.  
Carlisle thought simply _"Welcome home, son."_ He had known I could not leave them for long. Even in my rebellious 'youth', I had come home after a short while.

Alice's thoughts told me she was still upset over my leaving, when I had specifically promised her I wouldn't, but she was grudgingly grateful that my absence had been short. She also had seen what I was planning on telling everyone, but was mad at me for leaving, and silently said,_ "You are on your own in telling them, dear brother. I will not show you what I have seen."_ Then she visualized sticking her tongue out at me. I grimaced.

Emmet's thoughts just expressed happiness at seeing me home. Then he started wondering if what I was about to tell them would give him something to hold over my head. Something that would redeem his thwarted pride from losing so many wrestling matches. That was worrisome, because this particular bit of information probably would.

Jasper was glad to have me home and looking okay, though Alice had clearly not told him anything about the nature of my little trip. He was monitoring my emotions, and was relieved that I was happy. He had no clue what I was going to say, and that dashted my last hope. I hoped Alice had at least clued Jasper in, given that he was her mate, but no such luck.

_"Edward, what's confusing you?"_ I just shrugged in answer to his silent question.

Rose was relieved that I was home, which was odd. Rose and I loved each other, of course, but we tended to get on each other's nerves. I would have thought she would have liked the time without me, which would have given her a little more mental privacy. However I could tell that this time it was just the opposite.

In a gesture that was obviously pretty alien to her, she consciously thought words for me: _"Well, it's about time. For once, I needed you here, bother."_

Before I could even begin to understand Rose's statement, Carlisle looked at me and asked aloud, for everyone to hear, that single question I'd been dreading.

"Edward, you do realize we're all waiting for an explanation, don't you?"

I let out a sigh. Knowing I would be letting him down was the hardest part about telling them. Letting Carlisle know how close I had come to killing an innocent girl.

I looked into each of their eyes before I began telling them about smelling the girl: How it was like her blood was calling out to me, and how I had almost grabbed her right then and there and drained her dry. How the only thing that would have kept me from drinking from her was to run.

Their thoughts were a mix of familiar understanding and rueful pity, and Carlisle was proud that I had done what was right for this girl.

I listened as my family's thoughts drifted to the human I was telling them about, questions like who she was and were I had come across her. Alice's thought sprang up at me suddenly: _"You need to tell them who she is, dummy."_ There was something there in her thoughts that she was trying to hide, but when the girl's face floated across it, there was familiarity to the way she viewed it and fondness. She cared for her!

After Alice's thoughts hit me, I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes, trying to find some way to tell them who had caused such a bloodlust in me, and that her thoughts were somehow hidden from me. I stayed that way for about 2 minutes as rejected possibilities mounted and the seconds ticked by. My family knew there was more, and waited patiently for me to tell them.

Knowing I would just have to spit it out, I looked at my family again.

"The girl is in our school, and I have Biology with her. Her name—" But before I could even get her name out, the exact face which had been haunting me all week ran through all but Carlisle's mind. All Carlisle had was her name, but that too ran through his mind.

"Yes, it's Isabella Swan." I admitted, ashamed.

Then all of their minds were off, spinning in wildly in different direction, and it was hard to keep up. Apparently they had all interacted with her during my week of absence. Alice had just had an epiphany about the moment she had run into her, or, I should say, Bella fall right in front of Alice just before going to class.

"I think I know why Edward had such a strong reaction to her," Alice piped up. "She was bleeding when she went to Bio. It was the first day of her menstrual cycle, and it had already been over two weeks seen we hunted."

As she informed everyone of this, she ran the event of Bella and her in the hall for me to experience. As I watched her trip, I found myself wanting to reach out and grab her before she was hurt. She was just so fragile-looking; a large part of me wanted to protect her. But of course, those were probably all Alice's emotions, projected onto me by sharing brain space.

"I hope that's all it was. However, to be on the safe side, you should hunt before school tomorrow." Carlisle glanced at his watch. "Or, should I say, today. It's four AM."

I just nodded my head. In truth, what I wanted to know was how the rest of my family had come across Bella.

"Well," I growled. "It would seem the rest of you have already met her. Care to say exactly when this happened?"

"What, you didn't hear it, Edward, dear?" leave it to Alice to add insult to injury.

"You were all thinking too fast simultaneously!" I said defensively.

Emmet stepped forward with a big fat grin on his face. His thoughts showed me he believed his tale to be the must amusing, and therefore the best.

"Me first, Bloodlust Boy." He smirked. The rest of the family mentally winced.

"Okay, so. On Thursday I went to leave the human food hall and my baby kitten –"

"Emmet, she is not a pet!" Rose shouted. As Emmet apologized to his mate, I suppressed surprise to Rose's reaction. I could see in her mind that she was very protective of the girl for some reason. I could not even begin to understand why, though. She hated most humans due to her jealousy of them for still being 'alive'.

Hearing that the apologies were over, I turned my attention back to Emmet so I could focus on him as he relived the event in his mind and hear what he was saying.

"Okay, Bella had gotten up to leave at the same time as me, and just as she was about to pass in front of me to leave, she fell right on the floor!" His laughter boomed out at the thought of the human's clumsiness. There it was again: every time I saw her falling, I wanted to help her. What was wrong with me? It was only last Monday that I wanted to eat her, and hated her and my self for it.

"Ever kid in the joint went quite," Emmet continued his jovial narrative. "Let me tell you, it was damn funny." He busted out laughing again.

"Her face was red she was so embarrassed when she looked up at me, I couldn't help laughing. I helped her up and while she was thanking me and trying not to fall over again I made the comment to myself that I wanted to take her home as a pet. You know, like a stray kitty. I thought I said it too low for a human to hear, but I guess not because she heard me."

I could fell myself filling with inexplicable anger: she was NOT a pet. Jasper, feeling my anger, quickly calmed me down.

"Hey there, Edward, it's okay, but why the anger, man?"

I just sent him a thank you with my emotions, and didn't  
answer.

_"Don't mention it."_

"She shocked the hell out of me when see called me on it, going all "I am not a pet, thank you very much." Well my face dropped right off. None of the kids ever tried to even talk to me before, and here she was calling me out, not the least bit scared."

Watching her in Em's mind, all I could think was that she must not have any self-preservation instincts at all. And she did indeed looked like a kitten, as much as I hated to admit it, and no matter how much she thought she was a lion.

"I didn't mean to make her mad, so I apologized and she smiled at me, so I offered to take her to class. When I was walking her to class, she asked me what kind of pet I saw her as, and I told her she could be a kitten, and she laughed it up with me, telling me that if she was a kitten, then I must be a bear and well, you know. I couldn't help but see the irony in that and laughed my head off. Given that it's my favorite and all." Seeing her smiling as she joked with my brother made me happy. I had run and not hurt her… And that simile of hers was unbelievably wonderful. I watched in Em's mind as he picked her up into a (bear) hug and set her down again in front of her Bio class.

At the end of Emmett's tale, Esme's thoughts were on the girl, hoping she could share next. Okay, so everyone's thoughts were on her, but Esme was particularly happy to see that she did not shy away form us, like must humans.

"Mom, why don't you tell me how you know her?" I asked courteously. She beamed at me. She always loves it when we call her 'mom'.

"Bella, Edward. Her name is Bella." Esme corrected me. She seems to not like me calling her 'the girl' or 'her'.

"I decided to build a gazebo to put in the yard, and asked Alice to help me with the project. On Saturday we went out to the hardware store in town. I was hoping to save myself a trip to Port Angeles.

"Alice and I were turning down a new isle, just as Bella rounded the corner coming the other way with a book in front of her face, and literally collided with the front of our shopping cart. She almost fell in into it, poor thing." She was still feeling concerned that Bella may have been hurt in the incident, and I was right there with her. That looked like the worst fall out of the three I seen.

"Bella looked mortified at crashing into us and started apologizing and asking if we were okay. Were assured her _we _were fine and asked what she was there to get, and she told us she was looking for heavier, darker curtains for her room."

As Esme mentioned the curtains, Rose's thoughts distracted me _"Well, good for her take action like that."_ I almost wanted to stop Esme right then so I could ask what the thought was about, but I knew I could wait until she told me how she had met Bella. Her story couldn't be too far in the future.

"Then she asked about you, Edward. She mentioned that the two of you are lab partners, and asked if you were all right." Even without Jasper's talent, I could already feel the maternal protectiveness pouring off of her. What I couldn't understand were the emotions running through me. When I saw her expressing concern over me, something strange happened to my general abdominal area and knees. "Alice and I told her you were fine, just out sick." She chuckled. "Then she asked Alice to give you the notes she been take in class for you. She had them right there in her bag. She very thoughtful." _'Maternal instincts kicking in right… now,' _Alice thought at me. I couldn't help but grin a little bit.

I turned back to Esme's thoughts just in time to see Bella almost trip and brain herself in the slick parking lot. I winced. Luckily, Esme caught her. I listened, completely riveted, as Alice, Esme and Bella made small talk by Bella's beat-up old red truck, said their goodbyes, and Bella drove away. Both Alice and Esme watched very carefully as she maneuvered out onto the road.

I had been so wrapped up in Esme's story, I hadn't realized Alice had left the room untill she came bouncing back down the stairs with the notes Esme had mention clutched in her hand.

"I know you don't need them or anything, but you should look them over so she knows we gave them to you." Alice said, handing me the pages. I glanced through them quickly, just getting a feel for what to prepare for class today. I was honestly surprised by what I saw: for a human, her notes were far and beyond what was per the norm. She had practically copied the lectures word-for-word! On the bottom of the last page, there was a small note, scrawled sideways:

Edward – Very sorry if I offended you somehow in class on Monday. I didn't mean to. Anyway, these notes are four days' worth of class lectures. I know they're not very good, but I hope they help. Please call me sometime this week or next week, because we have to do a paper together. Mr. Banner extended the deadline for us till next Friday, but we should probably get a jump on it. Please feel better soon!  
--Bella

What? What was with this girl? The look I'd given her in class had been downright murderous, although she hadn't displayed too many of the expected symptoms of mind-boggling fear. She should have been scared out of her mind of me after how I'd acted in Bio, not trying to apologize and give me notes! But it was pretty sweet of her. And she called these bad? Lord, I'd hate to see good ones.

Rose cleared her throat impatiently, breaking my concentration, and bringing me back to the reality in which everyone was staring at me. "Done doing that handwriting analysis, big brother?" she demanded, sarcastic.

"Who's doing a handwriting analysis?" I shot back hotly, thrusting the notes away into a pocket for later examination

"Not you." Alice said wickedly. "You're saving that for later." I could only shake my head at her.

My eyes locked with Rose's as she threw a thought my way: _"I do believe it's mine and Jasper's turn to answer you question, isn't it Edward?"_ Annoyance laced her mental voice from having to wait.

"Rose, Jasper," I invited, letting them know they had my undivided attention. Rose and Jasper looked at each other, trying to decide who would be the one to start. From Jazz's mind I witnessed Rose projecting emotions, telling him to start, so I turned my attention to him. Their minds were filled with concern about what they were about to share. Their mental nervousness left me on edge as well.

Jasper took a big breath, projecting calm over the family. Then he began reliving the event with Rose in his mind for me, while speaking aloud for the benefit of the family, though I could tell this was not the first time they had heard the story.

"Rose and I were making our way out of Advanced English Composition to the cafeteria to meet up with Alice and Emmet. Bella was walking just in front of us, and at that point, I wasn't paying attention to her emotions. But then a strong uneasiness hit her, and that got my attention."

As Jasper began describing her emotions, two things surprised me. Firstly, I had been hoping it was not just me who could not get a read on her and was glad someone could, and second, my jealousy over the fact that he could and I couldn't.

"She abruptly turned around, and smashed full-tilt right into Rose. I immediately felt Rose's anger at Bella for not paying attention to her surroundings. Bella stepped back a few feet as embarrassment and remorse washed over her. Both of these were directed at Rose, stemming from the fact she'd just collided with her, however the uneasiness never left and, surprisingly, it was not directed at us. After stepping back, she looked up at us and said kind of formally "I am very sorry." Then she looked over her shoulder, and more unease and nervousness filled her. She went on, saying, "I wasn't paying attention to were I was going." She threw a glace over her shoulder again, and froze for about a second as a strong fear filled her. Still looking behind her, she began edging closer to us. Rose and I know then something was up. How many humans do you know who would actually get closer to a vampire, even if they were terrified of something else? Anyway, following her gaze led me to the source of her fear. Remember Tyler? He' was on the far side of the hall, lust and impatience radiating off of him."

"Her fear was very reasonable." Rose added, loathing lacing her tone.

It was Rose now who took on the speaking for everyone.  
"When she faced us again, her look reminded me of—" She stopped, and no one prompted her. Everyone in the family knew this subject was hard for Rose, even now.

I went over to stand with Rose, pulling her into the safety of a brotherly hug. Being a mind reader, I knew exactly how hard this was for her so I sought for something to comfort her with, pulling her close to me.

"We understand, Rose. You've got personal experience with this sort of stuff." I said, pulling her even closer. Emmet came and put his hand on my shoulder, and I released his wife to him so he could offer her some better comfort. Jasper concentrated on filling the room with love, comfort, and acceptance. Trying to calm Rose's onslaught of pain.

Japer picked up the story again.

"Straight away, Rose went from anger, to pain, and then concern." I watched in Rose's head as she remembered pulling Bella into a one armed hug, and looked down at her with gentle understanding and protective concern. Through her memory-eyes, I looked down at Bella's face, her expression slowly melting from wide-eyed fear to relieved trust.

"As Rose pulled Bella closer to us, Bella slowly began to calm, which was strange, but I put a hand on both of them to finish the process. At the same time I observed Tyler's emotions all over again. He was fell with lust, longing, impotence, and a need for control."

As Jasper informed me of Tyler's feelings, I was filled with hatred for both him, and myself. Him for causing this fragile girl to feel so scared: scared enough she would feel safer with vampires. Hatred for myself for hating her when I smelled her in class. She was kind, understanding, and sweet natured. She can see kindness when others only feel fear. I found myself wanting to know her as my mother and siblings did, and I could tell from Carlisle's mind as he listened to us that he also wanted to get to meet this girl, and was drawing some of the same conclusions as I was. But the need I was feeling was ten time that of Carlisle's mere interest.

I put a stop to my mental rambling to focus on what Jasper was saying.

"After seeing what he was feeling, and let me tell you, man, it would have been nice to know what both of them were thinking too, I could barely keep my cool." I inwardly cringed at the mention of him wanting to know what she was thinking, because I would not have been able to tell him.

"I poured as much calm into Bella as I could without making her feel sleepy and said "Hey, is everything okay? You look awful anxious. We're here." I watched in their minds as Bella's eyes filled with tears, and began spilling out onto her round, pink cheeks. It was downright heart breaking to watch. In that moment I felt like I was dying all over again. I wanted nothing more than to be there for her, and obliterate anything that would cause this angel to cry.

"She leaned into Rose, then and finally let it all out for us. 'Last night right as I was about to change into my pjs, I suddenly got the creeps, like when someone is staring at your back really hard. I looked out my bedroom window… and Tyler was sitting in his van down the street a little bit with binoculars, looking into my room. He didn't leave until about two AM. I have been trying to avoid him all day, but it feels like he keeps trying to catch me alone. It's staring to scare me.'

It was now clear to me why Rose would feel so protective of her. As much as Rose tended to focus on herself, she would never want another woman to face what she had faced, and Bella was right there in front of her, potentially facing a similar encounter to hers.

Rose cut Jasper off there to resume her narrative.  
"It was hard to keep myself under control after Jasper used his power on Bella so she would tell us what was going on.

"I didn't think she should be alone after what she had told us, so I offered to escort her to the cafeteria while Jasper somehow stalled the sick little boy. Part of me didn't want to part ways with her once she was safe though. I know that's not like me at all, and I know I have always wanted to stay as far form humans as I can, but there I was, wanting to have her come sit with us. If it was not for the fact that I knew it was safer for the family that we not get so close to her, I would have invited her over."

I marveled at Rose as she pondered this in her own thoughts for a short moment.

However Jasper pulled me out by sharing with us how exactly he distracted Tyler. " After Rose left with Bella the creep went to follow them, so I threw him a good amount of fear, anxiety, and general uneasiness, which made him stop for about a minute. When he took another step in the direction of the cafeteria, I sent him a wave of full-on panic. Boy, you should have seen him run!"

Emmet's laughter stunned everyone as it boomed and echoed off the living room walls. "I would have loved to have seen him running off like a scared little brat. Ha-ha!"

Carlisle called out to me silently:_ "Edward, there's more about Bella we need to discuss with you."_ Carlisle's thoughts had no indicator that he suspected Bella's thoughts are hidden from me, so I waited patiently for him to share his qualms with the rest of the family. Carlisle took a deep breath, letting everyone know he wanted the floor.

"Edward, do you think you can handle going back to school and interacting with Bella?" His voice was filled with that special fatherly concern.

I took a minute to seriously consider Carlisle's question. Was Alice right? Was it just because she had been bleeding that first day? But it was the fist time a woman's cycle had affected me that way at all. I had already decided to stay with my family and resist the call of blood, trying to keep her safe from me, but I did not want to leave something this important to chance, and I would assume that the girl – Bella – would like me to be more certain too before possibly jeopardizing her life. I needed Alice to look for me.

At the same time I made my decision, I saw Alice have a vision of me asking her. That vision was directly followed by another, but it was just of all of us standing next to Bella's truck in the school parking lot. Well that was pretty useless.

"Alice, I know you're pretty angry at me for leaving after I promised not to, but I can tell you I am resolved to resist her. But a little help from you in knowing what to expect would be highly appreciated."

After making my request of Alice, I focused in on her thoughts again, hoping to get a better vision. However her thoughts were jumbled she was debating with herself, witch was very unlike her. "_I'm sorry Edward, I think I might be broken. I've really been trying, but I just can't see her."_ Shock, and, I hate to admit it, but relief shot through my at my sister's thoughts. It wasn't just me! Alice couldn't see her, just as I couldn't read her. Alice's pained thoughts went on: _"I think I may be able to see what's going on around her, just not her."_ Confusion contorted my thought and features. What did she mean?

"Alice, I don't understand. What do you mean you can't see her but you see what around her?" I could see from her thoughts just how bent out of shape she was over this. I knew there was one way I could help her with this, but it was the one thing I had no idea how to say.

Ignoring my own hesitation and concern, I plunged right into my confession.

"Alice, I don't think you're broken, and if you are, then so am I. The first thing I noticed about Bella was that I could not read her thoughts." There. No taking it back now.

Everyone was perfectly stunned as this news sank in. Then all six of their identical thoughts hit me simultaneously: _"Oh, shit!"_ Then their minds were up and running at full speed in all kinds of different directions.

I groaned, attempting to block out their clamoring thoughts. I wondered if this was as close as a vampire could come to a headache. Eventually, their thought began to slow down. It was Alice who voiced her thoughts to everyone one else first.

"Well, I'm guessing this means it's not my power, but something to do with Bella herself. It's like she blocking us some how." She could not hide the happiness in her voice, now that she knew it couldn't just be her if I was having the same problem.

Carlisle broke free from his mental speculating to share his thoughts with the rest of us. "Well, this is all very interesting. Both Alice and Edward can't get a read on Bella, but Jasper you can." We all just nodded our heads at him in conformation. Jasper was radiating smugness. "She does not seem too scared of us like most humans, and from what everyone has told me about her scent, apart form Edward, she smells a little different than must humans. Kind of like the wolves, but not unappealing and bothersome."

That comment caught me off guard. It would seem everyone else found her scent appealing but not irresistible, unlike me, who could barely resist her.

"I think we should try and _carefully_ befriend her. That way we may be able to see what makes her so different. That is, if Edward can handle being around her."

I was determined to do just that. I wanted to know more about his mysterious girl, and the only way to do that was repressing my hunting instinct.

"I want to try, at the very least, Carlisle. But you're right, I think I need to go hunt before school, witch means I need to go soon. It's almost six AM, and we'll need to leave for school soon."

I was about to leave for my mini-hunt when Jasper stopped  
me

"Hey, I'll go with you." I could hear it was not that he wanted to hunt with me, but more that he wanted but to ask me about my emotions and why they had been so all over the map. I didn't think I could really tell him because I was still trying to figure it out my self.

"Okay," was all I said, and with that, we left for a hunt.

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**Preview: **Chapter 7 Sparks

"Bella! Hey, wait up!" he called, and suddenly grabbed my wrist. I spun around to face him as he jerked my arm back towards him. "Let go!" I nearly screamed. I tugged my wrist out of his grasp, stumbling backwards. A strong wave of dizziness suddenly hit me, and I began to fall backwards for real, not just as an escape attempt.

I was expecting to feel wet asphalt against my back, or maybe my truck's fender. Instead, I fell back right onto Edward. I knew it was Edward because his scent was all around me now, even blocking out Tyler's. Thank goodness.


	8. Chapter 8 Sparks

The _Twilight Saga_ is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own. This is a work of fiction, and in no way related to the author. No copyright infringement intended. This story is not written for an commercial purposes. There. I think I've got the bases covered now. This goes for all future chapters and stories.

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Think you to every one how is taking the time to read my story.

Think you to every one how has reviewed my story. i love knowing what you think!

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A/N

Just to let everyone know I may have too start updating every other weeks for about a mouth or so. Between my getting the flu and having to work almost 10 hours 5 days a week my write time has been cut down some.  
Excited-Insomiac my beta can only go over my chapter on Saturday when we are both at work. And let me tell you, you don't wont my chapters untell she do's. let just say my grammar in bad.  
Sorry about this.  
Fire1

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Chapter 7 Sparks

Bella pov

_All I could see was black and nothingness. Then came crying, and the crying sounded so familiar to me that I almost wanted to cry myself. Then it hit me: it was Renee crying! But why was she crying? What was wrong? What had I done? "Mom, Mom!" I screamed, and desperately searched the black nothingness for her "Where are you, Mom?"_

_As I called out to her over and over again, the crying gradually stopped the blackness faded to a thick fog. I could just barley make out my mom though it as a dim silhouette, but her voice carried clearly over to me. It sounded just a bit softer and lower pitched because the fog. Making it seemed more soothing somehow._

_"Baby, it's okay, just be happy. Find the one who can make you happy, and don't worry. I love you, baby, I would give my life a thousand times over for you. Never blame yourself for what happened to me. I love you, my sweet." Her voice was so tender and filled with love, but there was great sadness there too._

_The fog began getting thicker again, turning back into the black nothingness. "No!" I screamed, my voice holding more fear in it then I could ever remember feeling. "Mom, Mom, come back, don't go, I love you, Mom! Come back!" _

_"Find him," came my mother's voice once more. Her voice filled me with a sense of urgency. _

_"Who's him, Mom and why do I need to find him? Please Mom, please come back," I pleaded into the nothingness._

_"Your love, baby. Find him and he will help you," came my mother's loving voice again "Baby, find him, please. Find your soul mate. You need each other."_

_"Mom don't go! Where are you Mom?" I called through my tears. Just then a dizzy spell hit me, and I stumbled backwards, bumping into something -- no, some _one._ One of his hands grabbed me by my waist, and his other hand grabbed mine. When our hands touched, I felt a sharp spark, and an electric current ran from my hand through my whole body. My heart filled with love for the man who was holding me, and I began to turn to see whom I loved._

**Bi**zzzzzzzzz

My alarm clock woke me, ending the dream, and leaving a sadness over me unlike any I had felt before. For one thing, I hadn't seen the man in my dream, and for two, I had not been able to get Renee to stay with me. It was like I would never see her again. I wondered what event in my life could have triggered that dream.

Looking over at my clock, I saw that it was 6:55 already. I had been pondering my dream for ten minutes, and now I had to get up and start getting ready for my second week of Forks High School '_Oh joy.'_

It was like most mornings in Forks: cold and foggy. At least it wasn't raining yet. _Yet_. As I climbed into my red iron tank, I pushed my worry about the dream aside, only to have them replaced by two others. Tyler was still lurking outside at night, looking into my room. I don't know what had me more an edge: him trying to get to me, or him seeing something that would raise suspicions about me not being quite like everyone else my age.

My other concern was about Edward Cullen. I had always hated when others were fearful of me, but I could always bring myself to stop fretting about it. With Edward, that did not seem to be the case. If he had been fearful, I was most likely the cause, and this bothered me. On the other hand though, if he had been fearful, I could slowly show him there is nothing about me to be scared of. Then maybe we could be friends. I had hoped that giving him the Bio notes with the message at the bottom would have helped that process, but he hadn't called. And I couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

Then there was the biggest question of all, which was why was I reacting like this. I could not stop thinking about him. All I wanted to do was find some way to relieve the tension that had built up between us on the one, and _only,_ time we had met.

I pulled into the school parking lot, rolling into a spot with an empty spot on both sides of me. I was early for school, so I leaned my head back into my seat and closed my eyes, trying to push away my anxieties.

I started taking deep breaths, inhaling that comforting cab-mixed-with-Bella smell. It had only taken about three days for my scent to wash out all the older scents my truck's cab had been filled with before me. I concentrate only on my own scent, letting every other thing leave my mind.

Next I concentrated on trying to hear past all the other student driving into the lot and greeting each other. My senses passed the school perimeter altogether and dove into the forest that bordered it. My hearing could only reach about five miles out into the forest in any given direction, but I knew this was only a little shorter a rang than normal. I concentrated on the leaves of the trees swaying in the warm sunlit-wind, some falling off the trees and fluttering to the ground below. I listened to the birds singing and the animals roaming over and under the forest floor.

I was pulled out of my calming exercise by the sound of a car pulling into the empty spot on the passenger side of my truck. The cars engine was quiet, almost a purr. I chuckled, thinking of the differences of my thundering-loud engine in comparison to its purring engine.

Unfortunately my light mode was shattered when I heard Tyler's van making its way into the parking lot. My eyes snapped open and I hastily grabbing my bag, hoping to avoid him by going early to my first class.

Unfortunately for me, my bag wasn't zipped all the way and all my books and notes come pouring out onto the floor of the cab.

"Dammit," I mumbled to my self. This was slowing my getaway.

While stuffing everything back into my bag, I heard Tyler pulling his van into the empty parking spot on my driver's side.

I could hear his heart beat accelerating I could small adrenalin releasing into his blood stream. As he pulled open his van's door, I heard him mumbling to him self, "Yes, she's still in her tuck!"

My mind began to race. I felt trapped: how was I going to get out of my truck and away form Tyler?

'Okay, Bella think. Calm down. You can do this,' I told myself.

Option one, I could slide over to the passenger side seat and leave out that door. But there was that quiet car on my passenger side, and if they saw me, they'd think it was strange. No, I couldn't do that.

Option two; I could get out the driver's side door and walk in front of my truck instead of the back. That wouldn't look too odd. Okay, option two it is.

A terrible thought hit me: what if he tries calling out to me? My eyes fell on my dead IPod. Well, he doesn't know I forgot to charge it. Hopefully. I grabbed it and inserted the earbuds. Then I opened my door, hoping all this would work and I could slip past him.

I could hear Tyler making his way behind his van as I grabbed my bag then closed and locked my truck's door. As I left my truck, the person, or I should say people, in the purring car also began leaving their car. And then their scents hit me. It was Edward's! Along with Alice's, Rose's, Emmett's and Jasper's. That car was the Cullens car. Why hadn't I realized it before?

I could almost smile, they smelled so good. Especially Edward. Unfortunately, smelling them made me forget everything else that was going on, including that Tyler was trying to approach me and now was getting way too close. When Tyler's seaweed-and-pine scent crept into the perfect perfume of the Cullens/Hales, everything came crashing back to me.

Tyler's footsteps were within a arms reach of me now, and I began to panic.

"Bella! Hey, wait up!" he called, and suddenly grabbed my wrist. I spun around to face him as he jerked my arm back towards him. "Let go!" I nearly screamed. I tugged my wrist out of his grasp, stumbling backwards. A strong wave of dizziness suddenly hit me, and I began to fall backwards for real, not just as an escape attempt.

I was expecting to feel wet asphalt against my back, or maybe my truck's fender. Instead, I fell back right onto Edward. I knew it was Edward because his scent was all around me now, even blocking out Tyler's. Thank goodness.

Edward's right arm wrapped around my waist, as his left hand came up to hold mime_. _When our hands touched, I felt a sharp spark, and then an electric current ran from our joint hands through my whole body.

The electric current, Edward holding on to me, and his honey-lilac-sun-flavored scent mixing with my strawberry-freesias scent was all I could comprehend. Everything else just seemed to fade into black. I wondered if he was felling this too, or if it was just me. As if to answer my unspoken question, he pulled me closer into his chest, curving his spine to create a comforting cavity for me. When he pulled my closer, for the first time in my life, I felt like this was where I was supposed to be, like I _belonged_.

The electric current slowly started to fade in intensity. By no means completely gone, but allowing the world around Edward and I to came back into focus. As the world came back to me, a sudden sense of deja vu washed over me: this was exactly like in my dream!

There was all out pandemonium in my head now as my dream flashed through my mind. I was being held by Edward Cullen, the Edward Cullen who I could not get out of my head, the Edward Cullen who I had scared off and upset the first time we'd met. Edward's chest was vibrating, pulling my out of the mess in my head. The vibrating sounded like some kind of purr, coming from deep within his chest. But that couldn't be right, people don't purr. Suddenly his purr turned into a growl. I thought only animals could growl like that. It was low. Too low for most people to hear. It should have been the scariest sound I'd ever heard, but instead of scared, I felt strangely protected.

"Jasper, _do_ something. He's growling." Rose's voice sounded strangely worried.

"He's not scaring her, Rose. She actually feels… safe. And Edward seems to have slipped into some sort of.... protection mode. It's like all he can focus on his protecting Bella, like when you first met your mate. I don't think he can even hear us right now," Jasper said, quite business like.

"No… wait…. how… why?" Rose's voice was beyond surprised.

"Oh, well, what do you know? This is going to be fun," Emmett's amused voice added.

"Are you sure, Jazz? I would love to have Bella as a sister." I could tell from Alice's voice that she was happy about whatever it was they meant by all of this.

They said all of this in hushed voices, so low that no one should have a hope of hearing them. Hell, they shouldn't have been able to hear each other! What did it mean if their hearing was as good as mine? And how did Jasper know what I was feeling? Okay, so he was right on about what I am feeling, I'll admit. What does that mean for Edward? Is he also right about what he's feeling?

Are the Cullens/Hales different like me? _Could _they be? Hope was begging to swell up at the thought that just maybe I had found other people like me in this world. I had never realized how lonely I was.

Okay, facts first: They could talk in such low voices to each other that it was too low for others to hear. Their scent was comforting to me, and unlike anything I'd ever smelled before. Where as most peoples' smells tended to make me tense up, like I had to resist something. I could not be sure, but I had a feeling that Jasper could tell what people were feeling just by being around them. It's the Twilight Zone all over again.

Edward's hold on me was gentle, yet strong and firm. So strong, it was like he didn't want to let me go. There would be no way for me to get away even if i had wonted. He had purred and then growled -- well he still growing -- but I had never heard anyone do that before.

I wondered if his heartbeat was like mine, as fast as a humming birds' wings. When I concentrated though, I found that I could not hear his heart beating at all. In fact, I could not hear any of his sister's or brother's hearts beating either. What was going on here?

"Hey, B-Bella, sorry about grabbing you and making you trip," Tyler interrupted. With his words, Edward's growling increased. His tone did not say 'I'm sorry' so much as 'I'm scared shitless of the Cullens/Hales'. "Are you ok"?

"Yep," Alice's soft, excited answer pulled my attention to her. Her eyes were practically glowing with enthusiasm as she made her way past us to stand directly in front of Tyler.

"I would say she's more than fine, considering that you gave her a good excuse to snuggle with her _boyfriend_ in front of _everyone_." The way she said it almost had me convinced. Edward's growling abruptly stopped as he looked over at his sister. He looked completely flabbergasted. Tyler's face fell open.

"Alice, thanks for saving me from Mister Creep, but what are you doing? Don't just offer up your brother like that," I hissed in a swift, rhetorical whisper, too low for anyone to typically hear. Stupid Bella, already forgetting that they did the exact same thing!

They all stiffened a bit at my whisper. Crap, I had been hoping they wouldn't notice it was _too_ low of a whisper.

"Sorry, it's… I… it's just that…" I was stumbling to find the right words. I had never let the fact that I was different slip in any way before, let along throw it out there.

"You don't need to apologize for anything, Bella," said a quiet, velvety, musical voice, whispered just as low as I had up above my head. It was the fist time I had heard Edward speak. His voice was beautiful. "I would be honored to help. I don't mind if people think we're dating as long as _you_ are okay with it." His voice was confident but soft, filled with kindness, and there was no fear in it at all. Maybe he really was just sick last Monday. Maybe I didn't have anything to do with it! The relief I felt at the thought surprised me.

"What? When? How? He was out all last week. When did you two have time to start dating?" Tyler asked, pissed and confused.

"I was here last Monday, and Bella and I are lab partners in Bio. I fell ill while in class, and Bella thoughtfully took notes for me in class while I was away. She asked Alice to give me the notes." Edward's tone was sharp, like he trying to cut Tyler with it.

"I didn't see you two talking," Tyler muttered, glancing between Alice and myself, misgivings and doubt plain on his face.

'And thanks for exposing _exactly_ how much you've been stalking me,' I thought to myself.

"Mom and I ran into Bella when she was trying to find same now _curtains_ for her _room_ at the hardware store. Well, we all got to talking and I just _knew_ we would be best friends. So when she asked if I would take her notes to Edward, I asked if she would like to come home with us and hang out. That way she could just give them to him her self.

"It was _so_ adorable when I came in with Bella and Edward was finally feeling a little better so he was down stares in his _PJs_. They ended up talking the whole afternoon away. I was actually rather miffed, because Bella was _supposed_ to have come over to hang out with _me_. But poor Edward looked like a lost puppy after Bella stared to leave, and I just _knew_ then they were meant to be, so I talked him into going after her. When he _finally_ came back in, he looked like the happiest person in the world, and was practically worshipping me for bring his new girlfriend over."

As she finished up the tale of my and Edward's reconciliation, I focused on picking my jaw up off the floor. I really had to hand it to Alice. That girl had came up with this half-true story so fast I could barely keep up. Luckily I had a perfect memory, so when people asked I could tell them the same story.

Tyler stood there, looking perfectly stunned as the rest of the Cullen family brushed past him, noses high in the air. Jasper was the last of the Cullens to pass him, and when he did, Tyler's heart rate went up ten-fold a look of terror suddenly appeared on his face. He turned without a word and run off. Emmet busted up laughing at him as he dashed into the nearest building.

I reluctantly pulled out of Edward's hold so I could look at him face to face. As soon as we were no longer touching, the electric current that had been running through my body stopped, and I mourned its loss.

"Um…  
Thank you for doing that, Edward. I don't know if Rose and Jasper told you about what Tyler's been doing. Oh, and I'm sorry about falling on you." I hoped he could hear the gratitude in my voice, despite its shaking. I looked at everyone else, and smiled. "Hi, everyone."

"I'm happy to help, and honestly this will help me out too in the long run. There are a few chil – girls in school that I've been trying to, ah, 'dissuade' myself. Rose and Jasper did in fact tell the rest of us about Tyler's… behavior. They were upset and very worried for you, and we always discuss what's on our minds in our family. No secrets between us, that is one of our household rules. Sorry if you didn't want them to tell."

"No, that's fine, I understand. If that's how your family works, then that's how it works. I really don't mind."

"I'm glad then. May I walk you to your first class? If we're going to be telling people we're dating, then we should get to know each other a little better."

All I could do was smile and nod yes. I was too lost in his golden eyes to form words. Wait… golden eyes? Last time I saw him, his eyes were black! I'm sure they were!

But before I could open I moth to ask about this mysterious color swap, Alice grabbed me and pulled me into a huge hug and then kissed me on the cheek.

"Bella, I'm just thrilled all this has been worked out! I know you and Edward would hit it off splendidly once he was feeling better. So, you will be setting with us at lunch, won't you?" This last was more of an order than a question, and she didn't wait for an answer before grabbing Jasper's hand and leaving for her first class.

"We'll see you two at lunch then," Rose added with a small but friendly smile. "Come on Em."

"Take good care of my kitten, Edward," Emmet said with a rather wicked grin on his face before Rose dragged him away across the parking lot.

And with that, Edward and I were left alone.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Preview: **Cheaper 8 electric

"Her heart's always like that when I see her too. Her heart is running too fast even for someone who's having an adrenaline rush. And what with Jasper saying she's calm right now…

"I think her heart my always run that fast. What – sst!"Rose's sudden hiss interrupted the question that she had been about to voice. Only one thing was in her mind now: Tyler. Tyler, and her longing to kill him.


	9. Chapter 9 electiric

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own. This is a work of fiction, and in no way related to the author. No copyright infringement intended. This story is not written for an commercial purposes. There. I think I've got the bases covered now. This goes for all future chapters and stories.

_______________________________________________________________

Thank you

Thank you to everyone how is reading and to everyone how is reviewing this story. My work has been keeping me busy but when I can I will send out thank you email.

______________________________________________________________________

**A/N **

The next chapter will not be out for about two week. What can I say life some time get in the way.

__________________________________________________________________

Cheaper 8 electric

Edward's pov.

The car held no spoken words, yet it was filled with my siblings' voices. Like all of their mental voices, mine was filled with the same thoughts: my own return to school, and Isabella Swan.

The biggest question on all of our minds was how could a human girl be so comfortable around us. Hell, she was more than comfortable! She preferred our company to that of humans! That was blatantly abnormal.

Alice's vision had showed us standing around Bella's old, beat up monster of a truck and my Volvo, however Bella her self was not present. Alice believed that we were in fact with Bella, judging from our behavior and body language, it was just this odd anti-Bella thing her visions seemed to do which was making her invisible. I hoped Alice was right about her visions where Bella was concerned, that she could see what was going on around Bella, just not Bella herself. I suppose we would be testing it out soon, because I was just now pulling into the school parking lot.

Spotting her truck near the edge of the lot, I felt an irrational spurt of joy, but squashed it before Jasper could pick up on it. I saw her sitting unusually still, with her head laid back on the headrest. So did the others.

"She in a deeply meditative state. Completely calm. I must say it's quite nice. It's unusual though; it takes most humans almost a lifetime to master it, and she's what, seventeen maybe eighteen?" Jasper informed us,with a touch smugly. He like being the only one of us that could use his gift on her.

"Are you sure about that, Jazz? Listen to her heart: it's almost three times as fast as a human's ought to be," I pointed out sorely, my dislike for not having access to her mind leaking through my tone.

"You know, Eddy, now that your bring it up, every time I've come across her, her heart's been like that. I don't think it's anything unusual for her." Emmett's thoughtful statements made the rest of them mentally scan over every time any of them had picked the sound up. Unfortunately, the fact that I had been unable to hear her thoughts, and then resisting the call of her blood on that first day meant I had missed it all together.

I brooded on this as I maneuvered the car through the morning's traffic and pulled us into the space on her passenger's side door.

"Her heart's always like that when I see her too. Her heart is running too fast even for someone who's having an adrenaline rush. And what with Jasper saying she's calm right now… I think her heart my always run that fast. What – sst!" Rose's sudden hiss interrupted the question that she had been about to voice. Only one thing was in her mind now:_ Tyler_. Tyler, and her longing to kill him.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Emmett coo"ed at his wife.

"Pervert Boy is down the street." Her voice was filled with hatred.

I stiffened as Jasper picked up on Bella's emotions. From his mind, I saw them go from tranquil and slightly amused to panicked and undecided. This time I did notice that her heart rate didn't change. Even when Tyler pulled up next to her, it remained at that quick da-da-da-da rate.

_"Oh, yes, she's in her truck. God, look at her body… Damn, what I wouldn't give to fuck the shit out of her right now." _I watched in rage and disgust as Tyler's mind went from vulgar word to even more vulgar images of Bella laying under him as he violated her.

My every instinct screamed for his death. This was harder to watch then when the children made me watch themselves with my family or myself. Jasper sensed my rage, sent a wave of calm washing over me.

_"What's going on, Edward?"_ Jasper asked me silently as to not cause the rest of the family worry.

"Tyler's mind," I hissed to him as I got out of the car. The rest of my family following after me. On the far side of Bella's truck, Tyler cut the engine on his van. I hear Bella curse as all her books poured out of her bag, and she shoved them hurriedly back in as she simultaneously tumbled out of the cab. I winced, but she regained her balance.

I kept my eyes on Bella as she made her way to the front of her truck, stopping for a split second to breath in deeply. I could hear from Jasper's mind that this breath calmed her for that same short time.

Then Tyler was right behind her, reaching, she didn't know! I was moving, moving to stop what I knew he was trying to do, but I was just an instant too late. He reached out and grabbed her arm and I wanted nothing more than to rip that arm from his body, and far away from her. I was right behind her when she screamed and yanked her arm from his grasp. Centrifugal force caused her foot to slide out from under her, sending her pin wheeling backwards… Right into me.

But before she could hurt herself by falling on my granite skin, I grubbed her by the waist and left hand, cushioning her fall. When our hands met, a sharp, electric spark leapt between our fingers, and an electric current ran from our joint hands throughout my whole body.

Everything in the world around me seemed suddenly unimportant, the only existence being that electric current, and Bella in my arms. Her blood no longer tempting me, strangely. Her strawberry-freesia and my honey-lilac-sun-flavored scent combining together smelled perfect. I could smell it for the rest of forever and not tire of it. She felt so _right_ there in my arms that I could not help the purr that reverberated from my chest. I wanted her closer to me, and my body acted with out my permission and pulled her closer in to me, my chest curving back towards my spine to create a comforting cavity, just for her. She could be safe from dirty child-minds if she was with me.

Could she feel this too? I wondered. Just then, like she somehow knew I needed the answer to my question, her body relaxed into mine.

It was then that I began to notice that she felt different then other humans: she was soft, of course, but her skin was firmer. Somewhat like mine, but not. Her temperature was also higher then it should be, similar to her heartbeat. But as I held her hand in mine, it was slowly cooling. Well, perhaps mine was warming. It was like our bodies were trying to match each other.

Now that she was no longer bleeding, her scent was different too. She was not tempting at all, though she still smelled heavenly. So this is what my sibling had meant when they said she did not smell tempting to them.

I was forced out of taking in all that was Bella when Tyler's thoughts hit me.

_"Fucking Cullens, they're all a bunch of cock blockers. Let go of her! She's mine, even if she doesn't know it yet."_ My purring suddenly turned into a growl upon hearing the vile thoughts emanating from his mind.

I could hear my siblings talking to each other, while also trying to speak to me with their minds, but I could not comprehend what they were trying to tell me. All I could do and think about was how I was going to keep that piece of scum away from Bella.

"Hey, B-Bella, sorry about grabbing you and making you trip. Are you okay?" Tyler was aimed at getting Bella's attentions from me, and getting my death glare off of him.

"Yep!" came Alice's loud, excited answer. I looked over at her just in time to catch the thought 'vision', and knew this was going to be a lot different than any of us were expecting because she was now steadfastly concentrating on mentally categorizing her wardrobe by design, fabric, and color. She was trying to hide something from me. Her eyes were practically glowing with enthusiasm as she made her way past us to stand directly in front of Tyler.

"I would say she's more than fine, considering that you gave her a good excuse to snuggle with her _boyfriend_ in front of _everyone_." Oh, my God, what is she doing!? Being called Bella's boyfriend made me feel odd in a good way, and wasn't uncomfortable at all. What going on with me? And how would Bella take this? Was she okay with it? I'd been a total ass to her last week in Bio. Did she even want to see me any more? What if I'd offended her?

"_Let me handle this, Edward. It will help to keep him away, if people know you're dating, or at the very least think you two are dating," _Alice's mental voice warned me, but how could she think Bella would be okay with telling everyone she and I were dating?

The rest of my family's thoughts were also trying to understand why Alice would claim the two of us were dating. Rose's thoughts were at war. It was risky to have a human so close, but this would provide the family with a good excuse as to why the reclusive Cullens were interacting with her. However it was her belief that by 'dating' me, Tyler would get scared off , and that kept her from stopping Alice.

Emmet… well he could only see the humor in all of this. He was planning exactly how to tell our parents to create the maximum effect. His exact thoughts were "Ed's no longer a single man, Mom!" Even if it was just for show. I had a feeling I was never going to hear the end of his jokes about all of this.

Jasper, being the military man he is, was beaming proudly at his wife for this brilliant strategic move of hers. Carlisle asked us to befriend her, given the little differences about her. This way I would have to get to know her if people were to believe that we were, in fact, involved. That was his line of reasoning, anyway.

However, his military mind could also see the potential for danger in this plan. Just as I would need to get to know Bella, Bella would need to get to know me. Letting a human get to know any of use was risking them finding out about us not being human. He believed in the family's ability to blend in, and Alice was never wrong .

"Alice," Bella's soft voice whispered, whispered so low that no humans voice could even drop that low, and no human ears had a hope of picking it up. My body froze in shock at her whisper. "Thanks for saving me from Mister Creep, but what are you doing? Don't just offer up your brother like that." How could she be doing this? my siblings' voices screamed in there minds. _"Edward, I think she may know we can hear her and Tyler can't, but do you think she can hear us to?" _Jasper asked mentally being the first to recover from the shock.

"Sorry, it's… I… it's just that…" _"Edward she's scared! Do something. I think she knows she shouldn't have spoken that low." _ Again, this was Jasper, and again, he said this to my mind. I was about to ask him aloud what he thought I should do in a voice to low for humans to hear, but luckily I was able to stop myself just in time: Could she hear us? I had to know.

Before I could stop my self this time, I whispered as low as my voice could go: "You don't need to apologize for anything, Bella, I would be honored to help. I don't mind if people think we're dating as long as _you_ are okay with it." Bella relaxed instantly, and I know she heard me.

Only a two seconds had passed since Alice had made her gleeful announcement to a shocked and appalled Tyler, who was now trying to figure out when this could have happened without his knowledge. I could see in his mind that he had not just been peeping into her window at night: he was down right stalking her. Driving by her house, looking to see if she was at home, when her truck was not in front of her house driving around town looking for it.

"What? When? How? He was out all last week. When did you two have time to start dating?" Tyler asked, looking at _my _Bella, and she filched at the anger in his voice. How dare he speak to her like that! If she hadn't been in my arms, I would have killed him! The idiot did not remember I had been here on Monday. Well, if he wanted answers, I would give him some. Bella should not have to speak to this scum.

"I was here last Monday, and Bella and I were lab partners in Bio. I fell ill while in class, and Bella thoughtfully took notes for me while I was away. She asked Alice to give me the notes." My voice filled with spite, letting the boy know I wanted nothing more then to remove him from Bella's line of sight.

"I didn't see you two talking," Tyler's muttered accusation flew from his moth, and he glanced between Alice and Bella with mingled curiosity, loathing, and lust. I could see he was not buying that Bella and I are seeing one and other.

_"Ugh, Edward I told you to let me handle this! Keep your mouth shut please, brother dear."_ Alice looked right at the psycho with an award-wining smile, her voice filled with happy enthusiasm, to tell him (and us) just how Bella and I began our relationship.

"Mom and I ran into Bella when she was trying to find same now _curtains_ for her _room_ at the hardware store," she began, and I could not help the amused smile that was growing on my face. I could see in Tyler's thoughts that he had seen Bella's truck parked out side the hardware store, but he hadn't known why she had gone in. He had wanted to go in too, but his parents had insisted on his help cleaning out their attic, leavening him no choice but to get home. This is why we keep our lies based in as much truth as we can. "Well, we all got to talking and I just _knew_ we would be best friends. So when she asked if I would take her notes to Edward, I asked if she would like to come home with us and hang out and give him the notes herself."

I watched as Alice's mind began playing her made-up movie of her bring Bella home. Me sitting down stairs, half laying on the living room coach with only PJ pants on. PJ pants? I don't own any PJs! We don't even sleep.

Alice imagined Bella shyly making her way over to the couch, almost stumbling a few times while I sat up and looked back at her. Bella's beautiful eyes filled with concern when her soft wind-chime voice asked if I was feeling any better. Then Alice showed herself coming and sitting at the other end of the coach from me, leaving Bella a seat between us.

Her mental Bella sat silently, letting Alice fill me in on how she and Mom met her and then her asking them to give me the Bio notes. Bella fumbled through her bag at mention of these and gave me the notes with a small, embarrassed smile on her breath-takingly beautiful face, just for me.

Alice had me thank Bella for the notes, reminding me I had yet to do that. I engage Bella in conversation, both of us almost forgetting Alice's is there with us. Alice had no real dialogue for this part of her little movie, given she had not spoken to Bella much, but assumed there would be some talk of music.

"I was actually rather miffed, because Bella was _supposed_ to have come over to hang out with _me_." She showed me Bella leaving to go home for the night, with me looking like someone had just told me my grand piano had run away from home. Alice then turned to me: _"Edward you like her. There's no hiding it. Just let your self be happy, and go get her ask her out," _ her mind went back to just her dialogue then, not knowing exactly how I would go about asking Bella out.

"When he _finally_ came back in, he looked like the happiest person in the world, and was practically worshipping me for bring his new _girlfriend_ over."

After Alice was done with her fun little tall tail, I stood there wishing this could have been how Bella and I actually met. It was sweet, nice. Not bloodthirsty.

I was hoping Bella could remember all of Alice story, as she would have to retell it soon because it was not just Tyler that had heard Alice's story. The Queen of Gossip, Jessica, had seen me holding Bella and stopped two cars down and heard a good portion of the tale as well.

Tyler had yet to understand his presence was unwanted. He was looking on as I held Bella in my arms, going slowly mad with desire and jealousy. His mind was replacing me with himself. His mind then drifted and he was undressing her and fantasying about running his hand up her shirt and down her legs. This child was distorting my reason, he made me so furious. The monster in me was screaming at me to kill him.

My siblings made their ways over to us as Tyler didn't leave, hoping to intimate him into leaving. Jasper was the last to pass by him, and as he did, he replaced all the lust Tyler was feeling with pure terror, resulting in Tyler to run off in a panic.

Emmet was laughing, breaking the tension. _"Oh man, Eddy, I hope he wets himself!"_

Bella slowly pulled herself from my arms, and the electric current faded. My body felt curiously empty without it coursing through me. As she pulled away, she lifted heart shaped face and big doe eyes to look into mine, trapping my eyes with hers. It made up for the loss of the current, and I mean that.

I still couldn't read her mind, but through her eyes I could see glimpse of her soul. They were telling me she was grateful and apologetic.

"Um…. Thank you for doing that, Edward." I could see in her eyes how much she truly meant that.

"I don't know if Rose and Jasper told you about what Tyler's been doing?"

"_Like we could keep it from you even if we had wanted to,"_ Rose's sarcastic mental voice added.

I could suddenly see a shadow pass throw her eyes just as Jasper called out at me.

"_She's feeling very bad and embarrassed about something, bro. Comfort much?"_

Before I had time to speculate on the cause of her feelings, she went on: "I'm sorry about falling on you." What? She hadn't fallen on me at all! I had just prevented her from falling. What a silly girl. She had to see there was no need for her remorseful feelings. She pulled her eyes from mine to look at the rest of our group and gave them a smile that could soften the hardest of criminals. "Hi, everyone."

Being the selfish vampire I am, I cast around for something to bring her eyes back to mine.

"I'm happy to help, and honestly this will help me out too in the long run." The selfish part of me rejoiced when she turned her eyes back to mine. "There are a few chil – girls in school that I've been trying to, ah, 'dissuade' myself." Honestly that was true but I had just wanted to lessen her guilt about what Alice had done. I could see just from the small time I have been with her that she was always looking out for others, so if I wasn't just doing it for her then it might lessen her guilt about it.

I had no idea if admitting that Rose and Jasper had informed me of Tyler's behavior would be a good thing or not since I couldn't 'see' what she wanted to hear. However I found that I didn't want to lie to her.

"Rose and Jasper did in fact tell the rest of us about Tyler's…. behavior." I admitted with a sad sigh. Trying to spin it in a way that would keep her from losing the trust she had in Rose and Jasper.

"They were worried for you and we always discuss what's on out minds in our family." Translation: 'It's impossible to keep secrets in our family because the eldest brother's a psychic.'

"No secrets between us, that is one of our household rules. Sorry if you didn't wont them to tell."

She smiled on of her amazing smiles at me, and I could see she understood.

"No, that's fine, I understand. If that's how your family works, then that how it works. I really don't mind."

_"Oh, _man_ I want to know what's going on in her head! Does she still trust us? But I know I can't ask Jasper because she would hear me," _Emmet whined at me. I, however, could tell from Jasper's head she still, somehow, did trust us. But with her eyes still on me, I couldn't risk even nodding to him.

Classes were going to start soon, and if we were going to play the part of new couple we should start heading there now.

"I'm glad then. May I walk you to your first class? If we're going to be telling people we're dating, then we should get to know each other a little better."

She smiled at me and nodded a 'yes'.


	10. Chapter 10 Passing notes

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own. This is a work of fiction, and in no way related to the author. No copyright infringement intended. This story is not written for an commercial purposes. There. I think I've got the bases covered now. This goes for all future chapters and stories.

______________________________________________

Cheaper 8 electric

Thank you

Thank you to everyone how is reading and to everyone how is reviewing this story. My work has been keeping me busy but when I can I will send out thank you email.

__________________________________________________

**A/N **

Ok I know I keep saying this but The next chapter will not be out for about two week. What can I say life and by that I mean my friends baby shower and working some times get in the way.

________________________________________________

Cheaper 9: Notes

Bella's pov

There was silence between Edward and I as the other left us behind. That silence, however, did not include the rest of the school. The entire school parking lot was filled with whispers as other student pretended not to stare at us.

"Do you think she's trying to ask Edward out?"

"He'll just tern her down like the rest of us," two girls murmured to each other on they passed us.

"Dude, Bella's hot. I hope Cullen isn't into her."

"No way, man, from what my ex told me, he thinks he's too good for the girls here."

"Yeah, but Bella's from Arizona."

I could feel myself flush as the two boys went on about if Edward would be interested in me just because I was hot. I swear, every single guy in this town needs glasses: I was just a plain everyday girl, at least in the looks department.

"What are you thinking?" Edward asked. I looked into his eyes, and there was an equal rang of amusement, frustration, curiosity, weariness, and shy kindness.

"Everyone's looking at us and gawking. Everyone knows I'm too plain for you to be interested in me." I knew I was blushing like mad, but I couldn't do anything about it. "I know my being new here and you being… well let's face it, every girl here's dream man, it's going to draw a lot of attention. Add that to us telling everyone were together, people will be gawking at us for some time, and I hate attention," I groaned.

Edward ran his hand through his bronze untidy hair and let out a small sigh.

"You know, Bella you're being absolutely absurd." He smiled down at me. "You must not see your self very clearly. Every male here is seething with jealousy that you have chosen to speak with me over them." I just shook my head: HE was the one being absurd now!

"May I hold your hand as I escort you to your first class, Bella?" he asked with a smile. The thought of touching him again sent a wave of pleasure rolling through my body.

"Yes, you may. I am _your_ girlfriend, after all," I said with a rather giddy laugh and a grin, holding out my hand for him to take. Once Edward claimed my hand, the electric current ran through me again, this time not quiet as strong.

"You should know that Jessica overheard what Alice told Tyler and is waiting to interrogate you in your trigonometry class." Edward informed me as we began making our way to my class.

"Oh… What do you think I should tell her? I mean about getting to know each other and everything? I mean, we haven't ever really… _talked_ before…" Jessica loved gossip more than life itself, and, though I hated to admit it, Edward and I were going to be a hot topic for a while. The truth was I know very little about Edward at all and the same went for him about me. We had only just formally met each other ten minutes ago. What the hell was I going to tell Jessica? She wouldn't be satisfied with me just repeating what she had heard from Alice already.

"Let's see, you were home school until high school, right?" Edward dropped his voice lower and lower until only I had a hope of hearing it.

"No, I was home schooled until the start of this school year. Why?" I whispered back, just as low.

"My bothers, sisters and myself, were home schooled until we moved here to Forks. You could tell Jessica we talk a lot about that, because we have it in common. Make some stuff up, I guess." We were almost to my English room by now.

"So, what do you like to do for fun?" he asked in the same low whisper.

"I do lots of things, but I mostly like to read. My favorite book is Withering Heights. I love listening to music, and I'm a fan of all types. When I'm having a bad day I like to listen to Clair de Lune. It seems to have a calming effect. But I don't play any thing myself," I added hurriedly, before he could ask.

I was about to ask what Edward likes to do for fun, when I realized he had stop walking and was looking at me with astonishment.

"You know Debussy." His voice was full of surprise.

"Yes, my mom liked to play classical music around the house. I only know my favorites."

"It's one of my favorites too," he said with a crocked smile that took my breath away and made me blush. Again.

We had stared walking again and were know at the door of my class. I could feel all my classmates eyeing us.

"I should head off to my class now. I'll meet you here after your class lets out." I didn't want him to go and I knew that was bad. But even though I know it was dangerous to let people get close to me, I could not help the smile that sprung forth to my lips.

"Okay, see you then."

All through class, I was on complete autopilot. I was taking notes, but my mind was all over the place. I had come to realize that the Cullen family was different in many ways, and in some ways different _like me_. However, in other ways, they were completely different than me, different than everyone.

The cautious part of me was telling myself off for letting them know my hearing was far and beyond what it should be. But there was another part of me who wanted to tell them everything about myself, all those things that I could never share with others. There were different too: wouldn't they, of all people understand?

There was also that spark and electricity that was there between Edward and I. What could have caused that? So now there I was, wishing I could be with him and feel it again. And what's with that? I had just barely started to get to know him! Add to that that there was no way a guy like Edward could fall for someone like me. Oh God! Was I falling for Edward?

I was still lost in my thoughts when I suddenly noticed the classroom was nearly empty of students. Butterflies filled my stomach. Edward had told me he would meet me after class and I was suddenly in a big hurry to get out and see him.

He was right there, waiting, just like he had said, leaning up against the lockers with a crooked grain aimed at me.

"Hey. How was class?" he asked as I made my way over to him, blushing like a mad woman.

"Okay. You?" I asked

"Fine. Bella, are you a fast reader by chance?" he asked as he playfully grabbed my hand and stared forging the way to my next class.

"When I have to be, why?" I responded, confused about were this could be going.

"Well, Jessica is in your next class, and she's planning on asking you how I asked you out." His voice then dropped to a whisper: "Since Alice's version didn't include this minor detail, I wrote it out, hoping you could read it quickly before Jessica started asking you all of her personal questions. A lot of people are trying to listen in on us though, so I figured we couldn't just talk about it. I know we could whisper it all out but it would look a bit old if people thought we weren't talking." My stomach lurched uncomfortably at the oblique mention of our similar hearing capabilities.

We were at my class by the time Edward had finished telling me all of this. We had stopped just outside of my class when he reached out and took hold of my other hand, passing me his note with no one the wiser. When he let go of my hand I curled my fingers around it, making sure that his well-choreographed charade would continue to pass muster.

"I'll see you after class, Bella," he said as he left, and I had to wonder if he was planning on walking me to all my classes.

Luckily, Jessica was not yet in her seat, so I unfolded Edward's note under the table and started reading:

_Bella,_

_Had the situation my sister planned for us had indeed happened, this is how I would have gone about asking you, if you would be willing to be my girlfriend: _

_I would have ran outside in my PJs and slippers after you, in the hope you had not left yet. I probably would have found you by your truck, and I would have asked if I might speak to you for a moment. I would have been willing to bet that I was trying not to look nervous, and failing at it completely. I would have been running my hands through my hair in frustration at my disability to express myself, trying to figure out just how to ask you. _

_I would probably have end up simply saying that I enjoyed talking to you and that I was hoping you'd consider being my girlfriend, and if I was going too fast for you, then, I hoped you would be willing to get to know me better. _

_I have no idea what you would have said to me. I'll leave that up to you to figure out. However, I would have been sporting the biggest smile of my existence if you had send yes. (According to Alice, you did, but again, I don't know how you would have said it.)_

_Well, I hope this helps when Jessica's won't stop questioning you._

_I play the piano. Music is my biggest passion. I have been paying all my life. I would love it if you let me play for you some time. My favorite color is blue. I look up to my adopted father and I hope to someday be as good of a man as he is. _

_Sorry about that, but I just suddenly realized you don't know much about me. There are so many things I would love to ask you about. At lunch maybe? _

_Well, have a nice class. I hope yours will be more interesting than mine (How can it not be with Jessica pumping you for information?)._

_Yours, Edward_

I could not help the small smile that was emerging on my face after reading his note. He had clearly put a lot of thought into it. And the way he wrote it is like what you would have seen in one of my favorite classic novels. He didn't have messy writing like most boy either. It was neat and easy to read.

"I would be smiling too if I had snagged Edward," Jessica said huffily as she plopped down next to me. "You _have_ to tell me _everything_! How asked who, and what was it like, and have you kissed him yet? If so, how good of a kisser is he?" Jessica was almost falling out of her seat as she rapid-fired questions at me.

"Calm down, Jess, seriously. I ran into Alice and her mother on Saturday and I ended up going over to their house. Alice and I had hit it off when we met last week," I added when Jessica looked confused. "You know how Edward had been out sick all of last week, but when we got there he was feeling better and was down stairs listening to music on the couch. So Alice and I sat and just started talking with him.

"Well, Edward and I started talking about music and books, about being home schooled most of our lives, things like that.

When it started to get late, I know I had to head home and make dinner for my dad and went to leave.

"Just as I was about to get into my truck, Edward called out to me and asked if I would be his girlfriend. He said he had a lot of fun talking to me, and wanted to get to know me better. And… well, I also had a lot of fun and found him to be a very interesting person, so I said yes. And that's about all there is to tell. We're still getting to know each other."

"But have you – ?" Jessica's next question was cut off when Mr. Varner called the class to order.

When class was finally over, I walked out to find Edward was right there waiting for me. Jessica was seething as I left her in preference for him. And, like the last time we talked about all kinds of things as we took the long way between Trig and my next class. I told me what I had said to Jess, and asked if he would play thepiano for me some time. He was there again at the end of my next class too and walked my to lunch to sit with him and his family.

Lunch with the Cullens was a lot less awkward then I had feared it would be. I sat between Edward and Emmett, trying very hard not to be squished. None of them ate or drank anything, so I just sipped my ice tea.

Alice insisted I go with her, Rose and there mother Esme after school to find curtains for my room sometime, and I found it next to impossible to say no to an Alice Pout. Emmett teased Edward and me about being a couple, and it only got that much worse when I admitted I had never dated or even been interested in anyone before now.

Edward and I left the caff hand-in-hand to make our way to Bio together with almost the entire school staring and whispering after us. That was getting old. When we made it to Bio, Mr. Banner ask us to meet him after class so he could go over what he wanted us to do for our paper.

As we waited for class to begin, Edward pulled a sheet of paper out of his notebook and started writing something down along the top. Then he passed it to me:

_Bella,_

_Sorry that everyone kept trying to listen in on what we are saying at lunch. I thought passing notes would help keep people from gossiping about what we say to one and other._

_So you told me you're not fond of cold or wet weather. Forks must be a difficult place for you to have to move to. My I ask what made you move here?_

_Yours, Edward_

I slid Edward's note towards me, and wrote as neatly as I could underneath:

_Edward,_

_It's true, Forks weather is hard to deal with at times. But I didn't __have__ to move here, per se. It's kind of complicated._

_~ Bella_

He glanced at the front of the classroom, where Mr. Banner was beginning to gesture emphatically at the Periodic Table.

_Bella,_

_Does it look like we have anything better to do?_

_Yours, Edward_

I chuckled, and began writing:

_Edward,_

_I guess it all started when my mom got remarried a few months ago. Don't get me wrong, Phil is great, but… he has to travel a lot, and having me around meant Mom couldn't go with him. You know I was home-schooled all my life, and my mom was the one who did it. When I started going to regular school at the beginning of this year, I think she was worried about me fitting in and making friends, so she didn't want to uproot our lives to go traveling with Phil. That was really sweet and self-sacrificing of her, of course, but it made me feel bad. She loved Phil, but she couldn't be with him because of me. So, long story made very, very short, I volunteered to come up here and live with my dad. That's about all there is to it._

_~ Bella_

I passed the note across to him, hiding behind the brown veil of my hair. I knew it sounded stupid and cowardly just because of the way I had written it, but there was no other way it could have been explained. There was a long pause from the other side of my hair, and then his pen began scratching very, very fast. He had just stopped when Mr. Banner called from the front: "Everyone, please come up to the supply closet and select a microscope! You only need one per lab group, so send only one person from you table up. Once you've done that, you may collect the samples from my desk."

I sighed a little bit, and mumbled "I'll get the samples."

"Then I'll get the microscope." I couldn't tell if he sounded disappointed by the interruption or not.

When I got up to his desk and saw the samples we'd be working with, it was all I could do not to groan. I had done this lab in Phoenix already. And it was one of the boring ones. Basic classification. Oh Joy .

Edward had the microscope set up by the time I returned to our table in the back, and I must have looked as dejected as I felt, because he asked quizzically "Something the matter?"

"I've done this lab already, that's all." Of course, I didn't mention that the microscope and data sheets were completely unnecessary. I could see the phase the samples were in with my naked eye, for goodness' sake! But naturally, I couldn't let Edward know that.

"It's not one of the more exciting ones, is it?" he asked, reminding me of what was going on.

"No," I said wryly. "It's really not."

He shrugged a little bit, and smiled. "We'll probably finish quickly then."

He was right. Edward was even quicker than me at identifying the phases, thought neither of us had to peer down into the lens for more than a half second before we agreed on which one it was. Within five minutes, we had completed the data tables, and were soon after able to kick up our heels and start back up with the notes.

He covertly slid me the one he'd written right before Mr. Banner interrupted us, and I had to read it a few times before it made sense:

_Bella,_

_That's amazingly compassionate of you. You sacrificed your own happiness for that of your mother. I've never seen anything more kind-hearted, and I'm humbled by it. Judging by your body language, you're embarrassed about it somehow, and I just want to tell you that there's absolutely no reason for you to be so. You're a generous person, and you shouldn't feel bad about it. _

_Yours, Edward_

I blinked away a sudden, inexplicable rush of tears. He had somehow seen straight to the heart of the matter, and reassured me that it wasn't my fault. When was the last time someone had been able to do that for me? I glanced at him gratefully, to see him staring right back, those creamy ocher eyes alight with compassion. I bent back over the page. My face felt like it should be a deep shade of maroon.

I scribbled quickly,

_Edward,_

_Wow… Thank you very much. I wish I could say how much that means to me. It's like you knew exactly what to say. Do you always read people's minds?_

_~Bella_

I added the last part only to try to lighten the mood a little bit, because the atmosphere suddenly seemed choked with emotion. But when I glanced over to see if he'd laugh, his expression was one of such horror that I felt like I'd been hit. A few seconds passed in which I sat, stunned by his expression, before I mastered myself and whispered "Edward…? Edward, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. Edward? I was kidding. Are you okay? Edward….?"

He suddenly shuddered, seeming to come back to himself.

The note, when he shoved it back across the desk, said simply,

_Bella: I dearly, __dearly__ hope you're kidding._

But before I could respond, Mr. Banner, king of bad timing, called the class to order, telling everyone to start putting the microscopes and samples away. For a while, a sort of organized chaos reigned, but then the classroom was empty of people except Mr. Banner, Edward, and myself. We stood before his desk, but I was so confused by Edward's reaction, I couldn't even look at him as Mr. Banner explained what he wanted us to do.

It turned out that we were both so advanced that we should, by rights, have been in a higher class, but this was the highest there was. I tried to hide my scorn, but I'm not too sure I succeeded. In any case, Mr. Banner didn't notice, so I wasn't too concerned.

"Bella, I have to say you're just like your Aunt Nikki. I would suspect your parents tell you that all the time. I know Renee and Nikki were twins, but you look just like Nikki, and you're an even better student than her, and that's saying a lot. But I'll see you two tomorrow, okay?"

I would have agreed, but his words had me nailed to the floor: what did he mean, 'just like Nikki'?

"_she's Just like…"_


	11. Chapter 11 Revelations

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own. This is a work of fiction, and in no way related to the author. No copyright infringement intended. This story is not written for an commercial purposes. There. I think I've got the bases covered now. This goes for all future chapters and stories.

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Thank you

Thank you to everyone how is reading and to everyone how is reviewing this story. My work has been keeping me busy but when I can I will send out thank you email.

**A/N **

Ok I know I keep saying this but The next chapter will not be out for about two weeks. What can I say life and by that I mean my friends baby shower and working some times get in the way.

Chapter 11, Revelations

Edward's pov.

School no longer felt like purgatory: it was now a mix between heaven and hell. Of course, Bella's presence had caused that change. Before her arrival, every day here just seemed to be a repeat of the last. Now, everything was new.

It was heaven because she was making everything seem new. It was heaven because I suddenly felt so much more eager, excited. Relieved. It felt like I had suddenly found something I'd lost a long time ago, something I had cherished. She was unlike the other children to the point that I wondered if she was even human. But then again, how likely was that?

The electric current that had run through me whenever our skin touched was becoming an addiction for me. Though I know it to be unwise, I still offered her my hand as I walked her to her classes, just to see if it would still be there. It always was.

As I walked her to her classes, we began to get to know one and other, slowly, shyly, but eagerly. I was amazed at the things she told me about herself. She loved to read, and it seemed she was a fan of the classics. However, her favorite was not one of mine. Not many high schooler's would be willing to read those types of books. She liked Debussy, surprisingly. She was probably the only 17-year-old in the school who had even hard of Debussy. I found I hated leaving when we got to her classroom. I wished we could simply keep talking.

I could not_ understand_ why everything this girl did or said was captivating to me: she was just a human! Okay, a human that had me craving her flesh and blood one minute, and the next had me inventing opportunities to hold her hand. A human who felt safer with vampires than with humans. A human whose heart rate was far too high, and didn't ever change, no matter her emotional state. A humans who's hearing was _way_ too advanced, and lets not forget that I couldn't hear her thought at all!

Not hearing her thoughts. Yes, that was the start of my hell. My gift had came in handy upon many occasions, yet there have been times (many times) when I simply wished that I had my mind to myself. However, with Bella, I wished fervently that I could access her thoughts. It was sheer hell at times to not know what was running through her head.

With Bella and myself falsely proclaiming that we were now in a romantic relationship, my mind was being bombarded with thoughts from all sides. I had learned, over my many years, how to push back most other thoughts to a dull murmur at the back of my head, but hearing my name along with my family's names had always forced that particular thought into the fore-front of my mind, claiming my attention for about a split second. And now I had to add Bella's name to that list as well.

For the first time in the almost-80 years since I had out-ground the new born stage, I was using my advanced hearing and vampire mind to their fullest. I had to keep tabs on all the things the children might want to ask Bella, so that I could help her keep up our lie. There was also what my siblings wanted to help me with in making, um… _things_ seem more real, given that I was the only one in our family who was without a mate and had never dated anyone.

I was also keeping a look-out for Tyler's mind. He, like most humans, knew subconsciously that we were dangerous, and was staying clear of Bella because of us now. Unfortunately, he was planning another nighttime peeping session. I would have to do something about that tonight.

His thoughts, along with several other male children's, were infuriating me with their need to star Bella in their perverted mental movies. I found that it infuriated me even more than seeing my sisters in their minds in this way. And yet another thing I could not understand: I kept comforting myself with the thought that my class would end soon and then it would be closer to lunch break and my class with Bella, where I could keep her safe from all the vile thoughts.

Once the bell rang, I leaped out of my seat and made my way to her class so I could be there, waiting for her again. She looked so relieved when she spotted me that I would have known Jessica had been plaguing her with questions even if I hadn't been periodically checking in on the other girl's mind.

Jessica looked over at Bella and whispered in a sugar-sweet voice, "You won't be sitting with us today, will you Bella?" Her spoken voice may have seemed kind and courteous, but her mental voice was screaming with jealousy.

Bella's voice was kind and regretful, as it always was when she spoke to her friend. "Sorry, Jess, but no. I was planning on sitting with Edward and his family today."

"Oh… okay… See you around then."

Bella made her way over to me then, and our eyes immediately locked onto the others'. I could get lost in the endless deeps of them, for they seemed to be filled with secrets, secrets I could not help but want to uncover. Before I knew what I was doing, my hand had claimed hers, and it was strange how right it felt to do so.

"I hate to have to tell you this, but I fear my family is waiting to bombard you with their own questions. But don't worry: no one's going to eat you." _'They won't eat you?'_ My mind demanded of me. What the hell had I let that come out of my mouth?

Bella's amused giggle saved me from my own mental scolding. I raised my eyebrows at her. She looked up at me and started giggling even more.

"I'm glad I can amuse," I said, a small laugh of my own escaping my lips.

"Oh, it's just that my friend Jake sand something similar to me last Sunday, and now I'm wondering if I just look particularly edible to people or something."

It's a good thing Jasper was not with us right then, because I would have driven him mad with my onslaught of emotions. First there was jealousy at her mention of another man. This led to more confusion as to why that would be, and then relief that she had not paid too much attention to what I had just said about my family eating her. That could have been a true disaster.

"Edward…. Hey, is something wrong?" Bella's whispered voice rang with concern I realized then that I had been standing there frozen for several seconds, trying to sort out what was going on with me.

"No I'm fine. Let's go eat, shell we?" Or at least get you fed, I added to myself. It would not be a good thing if my family and I ate with the humans.

We entered the caff together, hand in hand. As soon as the children saw us their minds along with their outward attention were on Bella and me. I did not need Jasper's gift to know how the whispers were causing Bella discomfort.

I grabbed a random assortment of disgusting human food, and watched with interest as Bella looked over the choices with a disgust on her face. This surprised me: I had thought humans liked lunchtime, and the food at this school was fairly good, by human standards. But she only grabbed a fruit salad and small soup, along with two iced teas.

"Ring me up for both Bella's and my lunches," I told the cashier.

"Edward, you don't need to pay for me," Bella whispered, too low for anyone but me to hear.

"I know I don't _need_ to. I _want_ to," I whispered back.

"Well, thank you. But you shouldn't waste your money on me." Her whisper rose to a normal human whisper now that we were at of the hearing range of the cashier.

"You're welcome, but it's not like money's an issues to me anyway." From this brief conversation, I was guessing that here would be issues with me spending money on her. Well, she was just going to have to get use to it. I was planning on doting on her all I could.

When we reached my family's usual table, I set our trays down and pulled out the seat next to Emmet and across from Alice fir Bella. Then I grabbed the other seat next to her.

"So, Bella, how's your first day of being Edward's girl treating you?" Rose asked with a playful smile. Her thoughts, on the other hand, betrayed her: she wanted payback for me always being in her head by asking a question she know I would be uncomfortable I would be with her asking.

I did not even need to hear her thoughts to know that she was feeling embarrassed: throw the window of Jasper's mind, I could see that her emotions patched the endearing and warm blush on Bella's face.

"It's …umm… been nice, and… somewhat embarrassing at the same time. I very much like getting to know Edward but it make me…. uncomfortable that so many people are talking about us."

"Hum…. Well, what would you expect? This is a small town, and you're new. Hell, in terms of small town life, we're still new. But I know what you mean. Half the time I want to tell the people here to mind their own business," Rose informed Bella.

she knew very well that us being together would cause a stir. Rose has always been, well, vain. But whereas she loved when people found her beautiful, she hated when the humans wouldn't stop talking about us.

Jasper was picking up Bella's discomfort at Rose's words. So he stared pondering, given that most humans loved attention. With everyone believing that we are dating, she would be getting a lot of it. However I knew from this morning that she almost instinctively shied way from attention. That is something else that separated her from other humans. She was hoping that after today people would be lose interest and leave us alone, but after what Rose had said, she now knew that was not going to happen. I did not even have to be able to read her mind to know that about her.

"So, Bella, how does my brother measure up compared to other guys you've dated?" Emmet asked with a huge grin and added mentally _"Let's see how good you really are at dating some one with out being in her head." _ Jealousy suddenly coursed through me like a liquid fire at the thought of Bella dating some one else. Her words from earlier ran through my head: _"My friend Jake…"_

Jasper quickly pushed as much calm into me as he could while dealing with the jealousy that consumed him because of me.

"_Edward, what the…? You've never been jealous before! Why now? Could she be his mate? No, she's only human! That's impossible!"_

If it were not for the calm Jasper was still throwing at me, his thoughts of her being my mate would have left me beyond confused. But I had to admit, she was the first girl I had felt anything other then a family or a friend bond for.

I glanced over at Bella. She had picked up one of her teas and was studiously drinking, it avoiding Emmett's eyes. She obviously didn't want to answer his question.

"Oh, come on kitten, tell the big old bear. Or is he that bad in comparison."

She stopped drinking and looked down at her hands before answering him: "To tell you the truth, I've never dated any one before. Edward would be the closest thing I've ever done to dating or having a boyfriend, Em. So there's no one to compare him to."

"Oh!" was all he said, surprised and disappointed in equal proportions. He had been hoping for something he could tease me about later.

The rest of lunch went by quickly, with no more uncomfortable questions asked of either party. Alice asked if Bella had gotten the heavier curtains for her room. When Bella told her she had not, Alice and Rose immediately started making plans to go to Port Angelos after school along with my mother to get some. As Bella was talking to my sisters, I listened carefully but also watched her: she never ate a thing, just sipped on her two iced teas. This caused me no end of worry about her. She was just a little too skinny, and I was hoping she did not have some kind of eating disorder. After lunch, we said good-bye to my family and made our way to class, hand in hand again.

After Bella and I sat down at our lab table in class, it quickly became apparent that the other children were going to try and listen in on our conversion. Mike was straining his hearing to the utmost trying to catch a snatch of what was going to be said. Even after learning that the two of use were now 'together', he had not diminished his plans on trying to win her affection.

I decided we should pass notes to one and other so Mike and the other interlopers would not get anything to help them in their pursuit of Bella. I found myself filling with anger at Mike for even entertaining the thought of him self with _my_ Bella. though of course, Bella was not mine. In fact, she could, at any time chose to end our fake relationship, and that thought sent a wave of agony through me. What on Earth was the matter with me? Was Jasper right? No! That was impossible!

To take my mind of the sudden agony that she was not truly mine, I pulled a sheet of paper out of my notebook and began writing. I had been wondering what had led her to Forks, so I decided to just ask her.

At fist she simply relayed that the weather could be hard on her, but she hadn't been forced to move here. It was "kind of complicated".

I wrote that we did not have much else to do, and that I could keep up.

But what she wrote next left me in awe of her selflessness.

_Edward,_

_I guess it all started when my mom got remarried a few months ago. Don't get me wrong, Phil is great, but… he has to travel a lot, and having me around meant Mom couldn't go with him. You know I was home-schooled all my life, and my mom was the one who did it. When I started going to regular school at the beginning of this year, I think she was worried about me fitting in and making friends, so she didn't want to uproot our lives to go traveling with Phil. That was really sweet and self-sacrificing of her, of course, but it made me feel bad. She loved Phil, but she couldn't be with him because of me. So, long story made very, very short, I volunteered to come up here and live with my dad. That's about all there is to it._

_ ~ Bella_

I had gathered through our conversions through out the day that she loved Phoenix and her mother very much. Most children her age would never have put their parents' needs before their own. Which is what she was clearing doing. She would rather forgo her own happiness for that of another. She was unbelievably selfless and kind.

I looked over at her to see that she was hiding behind her hair. How could she possibly be embarrassed about what she had told me? I raged internally at my inability to hear her thoughts, and swiftly wrote back to her, but was interrupted by out class work.

Mr. Banner called from the front: "Everyone, please come up to the supply closet and select a microscope! You only need one per lab group, so send only one person from you table up. Once you've done that, you may collect the samples from my desk."

Bella let out a long breathe before offering to get the samples for us to use. I went to get the microscope. I was disappointed by the interruption, but it was, after all, school, and we're supposed to be learning. Even if I knew the material better then the man teaching it.

I was back at our table before Bella had even been able to grab the samples. As I watched her walking back to our table, gazing down at the samples, a very unfamiliar feeling hit me: it was lust so strong that it was causing my pants to become tight. Oh no. This could not be happening! In all of my 100 years as a vampire, this had never happened. I had an erection.

I stopped my self from looking her up and down, however had that was given what see was wearing form fitting jeans that rested on her hips with a lovely blue blouse that set off her skin perfectly. Her eyes were focused minutely on the slides, and even from halfway across the room, I could see that she could identify them. She also had a look of dejection of her face. Well, I could not have that.

"Is something the mater?" I asked

"I've done this lab already, that's all," she told me.

We went to work straight away and I was just about certain I was right about her eye sight being as good as her hearing, because she barely had to glimpse at the sample through the microscope. Yet another thing to add to the list of things that were different about her. We finished our lab in about two minutes, so I passed her the note I had written before are lab was assigned.

_ Bella,_

_ That's amazingly compassionate of you. You sacrificed your own happiness for that of your mother. I've never seen anything more kind-hearted, and I'm humbled by it. Judging by your body language, you're embarrassed about it somehow, and I just want to tell you that there's absolutely no reason for you to be so. You're a generous person, and you shouldn't feel bad about it. _

_ Yours, Edward_

Her eyes were shiny with tears as she finished reading, and I was overcome with panic. No, no, no! What I had written was not to make her cry! It was meant to help her see she was a good person and should not be embarrassed about it. She glanced at me and there was gratitude in her eyes. Okay, I must hove moved her, not upset her. That was good. I looked back at her, trying to fill my gaze with compassion. She then bent back over the page, her face a deep shade of maroon. I could hear her scribbling something quickly down and then she passed me her newest note.

_ Edward,_

_ Wow… Thank you very much. I wish I could say how much that means to me. It's like you knew exactly what to say. Do you always read people's minds?_

_ ~Bella_

Oh, no! had I given my powers away somehow? How had she guessed? Had I been that obvious when I told her how to answer the children's' questions? Did she know what we were? We would have to leave if she did. When the thought of having to leave hit me I knew I was in trouble, because in that moment I know there was no way for me to leave her. I know what this could mean: I just wasn't ready to admit it yet.

Bella's shy whisper finally pulled me back to myself "Edward…? Edward, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. Edward? I was kidding. Are you okay? Edward….?"

Then, without even knowing what I was doing, it I had written a note back to her:

_ Bella: I dearly, __dearly__ hope you're kidding._

I could tell Bella had wanted to keep talking, but Mr. Banner called the class to order just then. After telling everyone to put things away, I knew he needed to speak to us about the paper we were to write together so we went over to his deck when the rest of the students left. He explained what he wanted us to do. It was a dull, straightforward assignment. As it turned out, Bella was advanced for a human, though she had tried not to let on. Well, given her hearing and now her sight, this news did not come as much as a surprise as it may have.

I could hear in this thoughts as he compared her to both her mother and aunt, particularly noting her hair color and academic aptitude. I had not excepted that he would voice it to her though: "Bella, I have to say, you're just like your Aunt Nikki. I would suspect your parents tell you that all the time. I know Renee and Nikki were twins, but you do look just like Nikki, and you're an even better student than her, and that's saying a lot. But I'll see you two tomorrow, okay?"

Mr. Banner went to leave, seeing as this was his last class of the day, and headed to the teacher lounge. As he left, I went to take her hand and walk her to her next class, just like I had done all day. Once I looked at her, though, I knew something was terribly wrong. She was standing there, totally frozen to the spot. I had never seen a human stand as still as a vampire before, but she was doing just that.

Then she so quietly, quietly enough that I wondered if she even knew what she was doing, "She's just like…"

It was so quiet that I almost didn't hear her. Her small whispered voice was filled with shock, disbelief, and confusion. To say that I was yet again confused would be an understatement. Seeing her in pain pulled me out of my own denial: I was in love with her. She is my mate, and she would be for the rest of eternity.

I did not have time to go over what all of this would mean for her or me, because right in front of me, my mate was suffering. I could not allow this! She was not ever to suffer. I placed both my hand on either side of her perfect face and lowered my eyes to look straight into hers.

"Bella?" I whispered. "Bella, what's the matter?"

She blinked, and some of the glaze left her eyes. She shook her head slowly, as if clearing a mist from her head. "I'm fine," she murmured. "I'm okay."

"Bella."

She stared up at me, helpless and confused. Her family must have a very sore spot for Nikki, considering how she'd died right around the time Bella was born.

"Your parents don't talk about Nikki very much, do they?" I asked gently. "It must be a painful topic for both of them."

She shook her head, still slowly, though now with more intention. "They never talk about her," she said, eyes wide and staring. "Until right now, I never even knew I had an Aunt Nikki." She started to cry, tears sliding silently down her cheeks. Unable to do anything, but unable to bear seeing her in such pain, I gathered her up in my arms and held her close to me, rocking gently back and forth.

"It'll be okay, Bella. I'll make it okay…"

She cried for a long time, and I held her even after she stopped.

Thank you for reading.


	12. Chapter 12 curtains

No copyright infringement intended. This story is not written for any commercial purposes.

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**Thank you **

Thank you to everyone who is reading and to everyone who is reviewing this story. Ok, I know I keep saying I'm going to send out thank you emails to my reviewers and I still have not had the time. Please forgive me.

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**I'm sorry** it has taken so long to update. My beta has been off work the last two weeks, so she could not beta for me. I end up spending a lot of time on this chapter so I do hope everyone likes it. I ended up have my boyfriend beta for me. I don't think he will do it again though.

However I did finally get to have my look it over today.

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Chapter 12: Curtains

Bella's pov

Holding hands, Edward and I made our way back to my truck and his Volvo, just before the bell sounded to signal the end of school. Neither one of us had made it to our final lesson of the day.

Instead he stayed with me in our Biology classroom as I cried over the loss of my aunt, someone I had never even known.

Afterwards, he had listened, and helped as I tried to explain to the both of us why I had reacted that way.

After my tears ran dry and I had gotten a hold of myself, I ended up telling Edward that I had no idea as to why I was feeling so lost. So much so, in fact, that I felt as though I was drowning in my loss and feelings of guilt.

The weight of my guilt was unbearable: looking back, I had absolutely no idea why I would be feeling as such.

I ended up telling him how, for as long as I could remember, my parents would say 'She's just like' or 'just like—well, you know' but never once had they said who I was just like. In fact, my mother had always told people she was an _only_ child and Charlie had never said anything to dispute it, although he had to have known otherwise.

When I voiced my thought that they had purposefully hidden my aunt's existence from me, and that I wanted to make Rene or Charlie tell me _everything_, Edward calmly said, "Bella, I don't think they were intentionally hiding her existence from you: It's more likely just too difficult for them to speak of her. Sometimes, with the loss of someone dear, the pain is too great, and that keeps them from telling you about her. If you do ask about her, I suggest you do it after you have had time to understand how you are feel."

I knew he was right: anytime they would say 'she's just like' their eyes would shine with a happy kind of sadness.

Once I'd realized that Edward was right, I knew that talking to Charlie and Rene would only open old wounds. I could not bring myself to bring any kind of sadness into their lives. But I still had this deep need to somehow find out about her. What she looked like: were she and mother identical twins? What did she like to do? How had she died? I know Mr. Banner had never outright said that she had died, but it was implied by the way he spoke of her in the past tense. I had no idea how I was going to go about finding things about her but I would have to think of _something_, because that undeniable need to _know_ was building up in me.

Once we reached my truck, Edward leaned up against it and pulled me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me. There were no other students in the parking lot yet, so we did not need to put on a show, and part of me wondered why he was doing this. Another part of me… Hell, a much bigger part of me was beyond happy he was doing it. I knew I needed to figure out what my feelings were for Edward, but right now I had just about all I could handle on my list of things to figure out.

But I did know that I had some kind of deep feelings for him, feelings I had never felt before.

My mind was in so many places at once, I did not notice when Alice and the rest of her family joined Edward and me.

"Okay, Edward. You've had Bella all day, but it's time to let her go so we can go _shopping_."

I pulled out of Edward's embrace, keeping one of his hands in mine to keep the electric pulse that is ever-present inside his touch. Turning around, I looked at Alice who was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, with that particular sparkle in her eye.

In light of everything that had happened since lunch, I had completely forgotten about the shopping trip. I wanted to forego it all together, but looking at Alice all hyped up and happy, I found that I could not bring myself to back out of it.

" Um… Alice? I need to go home first and phone my dad to let him know where I'm at. So where do you want to meet up?"

" Oh… we'll have Edward drive us home to drop off the boys and pick up Esme. Then we'll swing by your house and get you."

The way she said it made it sound as if this was the plan all along, and I had just _somehow_ forgotten it.

"Um…ok…oh, wait! Don't you need to know where I live?"

"No, kitty, everyone knows were the chief lives. I think it's in the Welcome to Forks handbook you get when you move here,"

Emmet said with his loud booming laugh, showing me he was joking about the welcome to Forks handbook, at least.

"Em's right. We do know were the Chief lives. I think everyone does," Rose added with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh. Then I guess I'll see you soon."

That was somewhat disturbing, though I should have expected it.

Charlie _is_ the police chief and this _is_ a small town!

With that, everybody except Edward started getting into their car. Edward pulled me into a light hug and told me he looked forward to seeing me again tomorrow, right before he jumped into the driver's side of the Volvo, and me into my truck. Luckily, I didn't ruin the moment by almost breaking my neck, as I'm so prone to doing.

The phone was ringing when I walked into the house so I had to run to get it before whoever it was hung up.

"Hello?" I panted.

"Bells, is something wrong? You sound rushed." The wary voice of Jake asked.

"That's just because the phone was ringing when I was walking through the door, and I _rushed_ to get it. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Ohhhh…sorry. You just getting in from school?"

"_Yes Jake_, I just got home from school. So what's up? Is there still weirdness down on the rez?" Jacob let out a huff at that.

"Yeah, but it's still the same, it hasn't gotten any worse. But that's not why I called. I wanted to know what's going on with the stalker boy." Damn, he couldn't let it go, could he?

"Don't worry about it, Jake, it's under control. He doesn't come anywhere near me at school, and I'm going to Port Angeles later today to get now curtains, so he won't be able to see into my room." I tried to sound as lighthearted as I could to alleviate his worries.

"Well that's a good start, but I still thank you should _tell_ your dad, _or…_ I could come stay at your place so when he out there I could make damn sure he leaves you alone." It sounded like he would love to have a good fight with Pervy Boy. I hated the thought of Jake fighting and maybe getting himself hurt. Not that I thought he could not hold his own in a fight. He was just too much like a little brother.

"Okay, Jake, if the curtains don't do the job we can talk about it."

"Bells, you know, our dads are like brothers, which make us family. So if someone is a threat to you it's like he's threatening me. **So stop trying to keep me out of this,** _ok_?" Jake's rant about us being like family made me realize something, though not exactly what he wanted. Like me letting him beat the hell out of Tyler. Billy and Charlie _had_ known each other all their lives. So maybe Jake knows something about my ant Nicky.

"So, ummm….. Jake…" I had absolutely no idea how to bring this up with him.

"Yes?" his voice held curiosity at my hesitation.

"Can I ask you something? I mean without you mentioning it to anyone, that is?" I hoped to God that I could trust him. I did _not _want this getting back to Charlie.

"Umm, sure, what's up?" I could tell by his voice he was hesitant about this too.

"You see, today at school, one of my teacher said," I paused to take to deep breath before going on. "that I was a whole lot like my aunt Nicky, my mom's twin sister and well…. the thing is, no one _ever_ told me about her. I'm guessing it's just…. hard for my mom and dad to talk about her. So… I was wondering if _you_ might know anything about her. I'd ask my parents but like I said, I think it's too hard for them to talk about."

"Oh. I thought it was going to something _bad." _He did sound surprised at what I send._ "_Yeah, I know a _little_ bit about her."

"Will you…. tell me what you do know?" I asked, trying not to let too much hope fill my voice.

"I don't know that _much,_ Bells. The only time I heard anything about her, was about a year ago, on a game night, and our pops had had one too many." His voice was thoughtful and almost faraway as he tried to remember. "Charlie was telling my dad how much you're like her. Let's see…. I remember them saying you being just as smart… hmmm… and you look a lot alike. Oh…. how you're even more stubborn then she was. After your pops left, I asked what had happened to her, seeing as this was the fist time I had even heard about her.

"Dad said she had gone missing and about two weeks after you were born. When her body was found, they figured out that she had been out hiking or something and was killed by some kind of animal. That's about all I know, I hope it helps somewhat."

I was having a hard time finding my voice after he finished talking. I was holding myself back from crying. I did not need Jake regretting telling me this. "Thanks Jake I appreciate you telling me."

"No problem."

"I should go. I have to call dad and tell him that I'm going out."

"Sure, sure, but come down to the rez soon so we can hang out."

"Will do. Bye Jake."

"Bye Bells."

We hung up, and I took a few minutes to compose myself before trying to call my dad. I would have to do it soon too. Alice had been eager for this shopping trip after all. So they would be here soon. Maybe going shopping would be good for me after all, a lot had happened today. So much so, it was hard to believe it had only been one day. Hopefully shopping could take my mind off all of this.

My nerves were still a little on edge. I picked up the phone to call Charlie anyhow.

"Forks police how can I help you?" a middle aged woman asked.

"I'm looking for my dad, Chief Swan."

"Oh, Isabella, yes, hold on just a second please." There was recognition in her voice: looks like Charlie talks about me at the station.

"Thanks." I don't even think she heard me.

I waited for less then a second before my dad picked up.

"Bells? Is something wrong?" His voice was filled with concern.

"No… does something have to be wrong for me to call you at work?" I asked, a little confused.

"_No_, of course not! But… so, why are you calling?"

His voice sounded much more relaxed now that he knew there was nothing wrong.

"I just wanted to let you know I was going to go to Port Angeles with some girlfriends and their mom." I tried to be assertive, matter of fact.

"What your friends names?" he asked, like the policeman he is.

"Alice and Rose Cullens and their mom."

"Dr Cullen's kids? They're a good family, always doing things together and never seem to have one bit of trouble with their kids. I was a bit concerned when they first moved here, what with all the adopted teens and all. However not one of them has set even one toe out of line. And the hospital could not have asked of a better doctor.

"Just be careful, alright?" his voice dropped considerably. "Their dad is a doctor, and you know we can't have people asking about you. But try to have so fun too, kid, will you? Oh, but will you be home for dinner?"

He did seem rather surprised at hearing the Cullens' name, and what was with the jumping in to defend them? I had said nothing bad about them.

"I don't know, to tell you the truth." If I was lucky maybe I could get out of eating at all.

"Well, I'll order some take-out, so if you don't eat with them you won't have to cook when you get in." It sounded more like 'you will be eating when you get home, just so I know you did eat'.

"Alright dad. Love you. See you when I get home."

"Love you too, Bells, see you tonight. And have fun."

I hung up the phone then went to put my things away and grab my purse, which I rarely used. I took my wallet out of my school bag and put it in the purse, so that I didn't forget it. Just as I was heading down the stairs to wait for them, I heard the Volvo pull up. _Well that was fast, _I thought.

It was a fun drive to Port Angeles with the Cullen girls. Rose was driving Edward's Volvo. They said it was the roomiest car that they owned, apart from their dad's car. But seeing as he had it at the moment, they took Edward's.

Alice told me that their mother, Esme, was the best at interior design. Then Esme asked how big my window was, and what I had in mind, what color my room was, if I was planning on matching it with anything impartial in my room, etc…

When I told them my room was painted the same blue as the blue on the trim of the house, and that in all honesty, there was no over-all design or color scheme, to my room, they looked horrified.

We did not get to talk as long as I thought we would, because apparently Rose has a need for speed. She made a drive that should have taken about an hour into 25 minutes. The rain was coming down in sheets when we parked; we had to rush to get inside.

I would have liked to have been able to take in the city a little, but we needed to get out of the downpour.

Alice let out a little sigh. "It's not the _best_ place for shopping, but I guess it will have to do for today. We really should have gone to Seattle, they have nicer stores in the malls there."

"Alice, we're only here to help Bella pick out some curtains, not an all out shopping splurge," Esme said in a low, calming voice.

" Yeah, well, it IS Alice, so I'm one-hundred per cent positive she will get us into more then just the home furnishings store," Rose added. From the way they were talking, I was getting a feeling that Alice was a big fan of shopping. I had never been a big on shopping myself. Okay, let's face it, I hate shopping. I was now wondering if I was going to get out of here with only getting curtains.

Esme knew right were the home furnishings store was in the mall, and led the way. She then led me right to the drapery section of the shop.

" Ok Bella you want something that is not see-through, but you can easily pull to the side, if you do want to let the natural light flow through, yes?" Esme asked.

"Yes, that's what I was hoping to get." I could tell she really did know what she was doing.

"You don't have any real design to your room, but it's painted a light blue, the same blue that I saw on the trim of your home."

"Umm… that's right."

"So sheer is out. We will go with a lighter material that goes down about six or seven inches past the bottom of your windowsill.

I would say the colors you should go with are either an oxidized copper or gray. The former would be stunning because it is a complementary hue to the light blue color of your room.

The latter concept of using a gray would give a professional, classy look to the room by using two colors with the same tint and shade. Adding flourishes of opalescent white would emphasize the natural tones, allowing the blue not to just to be seen, but instead be experienced." Man oh _man_ did she know what she was doing! "Why don't you and I go look at some white accents while Alice picks out some curtains for you to look at in copper and then Rose can look into the gray."

"On it Mom, but I have a feeling she'll end up the with gray."

Alice sang, and skipped off to look at the copper curtains.

"Well then, it looks like I better go and find that just right gray one," Rose said over her shoulder to us.

It only took us all about fifteen minutes to find what we were looking for in the three different colors. I had expected that I would end up with a nice white curtains for my room, but when Rose showed us the gray one's I fell in love with them. I also liked what Alice had found, but I could not keep my eyes off the silvery gray that Rose had picked out. They consisted of three parts, a lighter material that was in no way see-through that would stop just short of hitting my floor. Then a sheer that went over the fist part and would wrap around the curtain rod and the last piece was a rope to tie the curtains off to the side.

It was not just me who loved them. We all agreed that they were the best choice of all things considered. Best of all was that they had them in the store so I could pay for them and get them the same day, no waiting for them to come in. So when everything was said and done, we had only taken about an hour to get my new curtains! I was happy that the shopping trip would be over soon. That was, until Alice spoke up.

"That took no time at all. How about we go look at some clothes? I mean, seeing as we _are_ already here and all." Alice did not look at Rose or even Esme when she asked this. _Oh, no._ She was looking right at me with her puppy dog eyes all lit up and slight pout on her face.

I could not get my brain to work in that moment and like a complete idiot, I mumbled, "Oh…ummm…okay." I could hear both Rose and Esme giggling at my response, like they knew I had some how fallen for a trick.

"Yay! There's this little family owned boutique here, and to tell you the truth, it's the only good clothing store in this town. Last time I was there I saw an outfit that I just know would be perfect on you, Bella," Alice said skipping away, happily leading the way.

Rose put her hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her. "Don't feel too bad. It takes lot of practice to say 'no' to an Alice Pout," she said with amusement and sympathy.

I tried on at least ten outfits while Alice, Rose and Esme looked them over. My head was staring to ache.

"Okay. I'm done, Alice. No more! Just tell me the one that looks the best and I'll buy that one. But I am not trying on _anything else."_ I called out of the dressing room door.

"Fine," Alice huffed.

"Alice, not everyone likes to shop as much as you do. Leave Bella alone." Esme said, to my great relief.

After spending these last few hours with her, I found Esme was very much what I had always believed a mother should be. She could have fun with the girls, yet also find the right time to take control to divert disaster, and all the while still seemed gentle and caring. And her scent, of Hony-raisisn-bread and sunlight… it all just screamed 'mother'.

"Bella, I think the last one you tried on would be the best one to get. Don't you agree Rose?" Alice asked to no one person in particular.

"I think she's right, Bella. That blue sweater and the black slacks look great on you."

"Thanks." It was a good thing I was alone in the dressing room because I was blushing like mad.

I quickly changed back into my own clothes, and went to pay for the outfit Alice and Rose agreed was the most flattering. After purchasing the outfit I set out to find the others, who were waiting for me just outside the entrance. Alice was standing there with three bags.

"Wow, Alice, I'm impressed. I didn't even see you try anything on." She could make shopping into a sport.

"Oh, they're not for me! They're for you." Oh, no… no… no! I hated it when people spent money on me.

"Alice, _please_ tells me you didn't buy all that for me," I let out in a small wisher.

"Yep," she said, with a happy little smile.

"Alice that was very _kind _of you but you really _shouldn't _spend your money on me." Alice looked me right in the eye with those damn puppy dog eyes and pouting face of hers.

"But I love buying things for other people. It makes me happy. Don't you want me to be happy, Bella?" she said in a small voice that could break anyone's heart.

"No, I mean…. well…. I…. Thank you…. Alice…. it was nice of you." The words were out of my mouth before I could even understand what I was saying.

Rose just walked right up behind me and whispered.

"She got you again. That's two times in what, three hours?" She giggled.

"Bella, it does bring her a _lot_ of joy to buy things for others, so don't feel bad, okay sweet heart? Just let her enjoy herself. If it makes you feel better, none of us has been allowed to buy our own cloths for quiet some time." I sighed. I may hate letting people get me things, but I also hate making people sad, so I let it go.

For the most part, the ride back was quiet, which was good. I usually didn't tire easily, but with everything that had happened today, it felt like it had been a week, rather then just one day. We were just about back in Forks when Alice spoke up. "Bella, do you mind if I stop home real quick? It's on the way."

"No, Alice, I don't mind in the least."

If we did stop by their place, I might get to see Edward tonight instead of waiting for tomorrow. That thought alone seemed to re-energize me.

We were still driving through the forest road, mist all around us from were the first house was near the Calawah River Bridge. A minute had yet to pass when Rose abruptly turned onto an unpaved road. It was barely visible among the ferns and was unmarked; if my eyes sight were that of an average person, I would not have seen it at all. There was dark forest bordering both sides of the dirt road that I felt lead to their home. It was serpentine with its winding twists and turns, enrobed with trees and ferns all along it.

After a few miles, the woods began to thin until it opened into to a meadow-like lawn. The forest could not be kept completely at bay: six primordial cedars shaded the entire acre with their vast sweep of branches, their shadows ran right up to the walls of there home. Making the deep wrapper around porch almost black out the setting sun.

I looked on in amazement at their house: it was timeless, graceful, and looked to be about a hundred years old. It was painted a soft, faded white and was three stories tall. The house and the meadow-like lawn, everything about this place was just so peaceful.

"_Wow._ Your home is beautiful," I said with awe in my voice.

"Thank you, I glad you like it. We remodeled and restored it when we moved here two years ago." Esme was clearly very proud of this accomplishment. I could hear the love in her voice.

"Oh, come on, Esme. _You_ remodeled and restored it; we just did what you told us to," Alice said, as she leaned forward and wrapping her arms around her.

"Esme, you should really stop being so modest about it," Rose said as she looked over and smiled.

"Thanks, girls." She said looking down at her folded hands.

Rose parked the Volvo just out front. There were no other cars in sight, so I guessed they were kept them in a garage.

"Come on, Bella," Alice said, pulling me out of the car and up to the front door, opening it for me.

Alice pulled me right into the house with her. It was nicely lit, with a lot of natural light coming in, casting a purple light in the room due to the sunset. It was very open, and very large. It looked like it originally had been several rooms, but the walls had been removed from most of the first floor to create one great, big, open room, which gave it an inviting feel. The back south-facing wall was all glass, giving a wonderful view of the vast backyard and forest beyond.

Standing just to the left of the door on a raised portion of the floor next to a grand piano was a man I had never seen before. He looked young, maybe in his late twenties at the oldest. He had blond hair and was better looking than any movie star I'd ever seen. He appeared just like his wife and adopted children. He was pale, with golden colored eyes and the same purples circles under them.

And just like the rest of his family, I could not make out his heartbeat.

Esme walked over to him, kissing him on the cheek. Looked at them side by side, I was once again struck by just how much Esme looked like a living version of snow white, with her heart shaped face, pale white skin, dark hair, and soft curves. The man looked at Esme with a smile that lit up his face, making it hard to look at him. It was as though you were looking into the sun. With just on glace you could tell he was her Prince Charming, which meant he could only be Dr. Cullen.

" Hello. You must be Isabella Swan. I am Carlisle Cullen." He slowly stepped forward and raising his hand to shake with me.

"It nice to meet you, Dr. Cullen," I replied as he held my fingers.

"Isabella, please call me Carlisle. My family has told me so much out you." Oh, God, just what _had_ they told the doctor about me?

The last thing I needed was a _doctor_ noticing how off I was.

"Well then, please call me Bella," I said while sweeping my eyes around the first floor of their home, looking of anything that could help me escape the sharp eyes of the doctor. That is when I noticed Edward. His hair, just visible over the armrest of the cream leather couch, which was facing the glass wall so you could look out over the back yard and forest.

Alice must have seen where I was looking, because she grabbed me by my arm and led me over to him. It was almost exactly like how she had described us meeting to Tyler. Edward set there in his PJ pants his chests bear. To say he was perfect would be an understatement! I could feel my body heating up in an unfamiliar way. I had to fight to keep myself from go over to hem and running my hands up and down his chest.

She pulled me down on the coach to sit right between her and Edward. As I looked between the two of them, I could not help the wave of giggles that burst out of me. I had gotten to know Alice well today, and I just knew that this was her doing. Like she just _had_ to have Edward and I see each other like this.

Once I had stopped my giggling, I looked over at Edward.

"I'm willing to bet Alice had something to do with you sitting down here in your PJs, _am I right_?" I said with a laugh that turned into a yawn. I was more tired than I had thought.

He simply gave me his wonderful crooked grin while raising his eyebrows at me in conformation.

"Alice dear, Edward dear, why don't you take Bella home? She looks tired," Esme said, and I could not disagree with her there. So much had happened today that it felt like it had been one of the longest days of my life.


	13. Chapter 13 your mate

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people.

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**Thank you**

Thank you to everyone how is reading and to everyone how is reviewing this story.

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**A/N **

I'm moving and my Beta is going away for the holidays, it could be up to three weeks before the next chapter is out, _sorry!_ I going to try and get it out sooner.

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Chapter 13 your mate

Edward's pov

Holding Bella in my arms, I hoped it would offer a safe harbor of comfort for her as she cried. Each and every tear she shed tore at my very being. Yet how could she find any comfort in my cold, hard arms? I had to remind myself that she had not pulled away from me even once during the day: she had even seemed to enjoy it.

Her reaction to Mr. Banner was perplexing. Why had she whispered, "she's just like"? It would seem that the mystery that was this angle was not unraveling, but deepening. Oh, what I would give to hear into her mind for even a single moment!

After her tears had ceased, she did not pull out of my arms.

She just buried her face in my chest. The only sound that could be heard was her fast heartbeat. Her heart beating rights up against my chest gave me the feeling that my own heart had started once more. I loved the feel of it.

"Edward," she mumbled, with her face still buried in my chest, her voice below a whisper and filled with so many confused emotions. I placed one of my hands as gently as I could on the back of her head and lightly slid it down her silky-soft hair in a reassuring gesture.

She breathed in deeply a few times before going on.

"I'm…. sorry." she had yet to unburied her face, but I could feel and hear and smell the heat rise in her face, indicating one of her signature blushes. I wished I could see it.

"_Oh, _Bella there's nothing for you to be sorry about." She unburied her face to look up at me, a sad smile on her face. "Do you want to talk about it?" I was hoping, naively perhaps, that she could trust me enough to tell me what was causing her to feel such pain.

Her eyes met mine and locked into them. Her eyes searched mine for just a few moments, before she relaxed and a happier smile graced her face. I could still see a deep sadness in her eyes, but I was glad, for at least there was a small bit of happiness in her once more.

"Edward…. I…I don't know… the way I feel just doesn't make sense at all. I feel so guilty… and I feel such overwhelming sense of loss... but how can that be for a woman I never knew?" Bella asked as she pulled away from me and shook her head side to side, as if trying to clear it.

"Feeling loss is normal Bella, but feeling guilty? I have no idea way you would be feeling that." I was at a complete loss on why she would feel any kind of guilt. From what I had picked up in Mr. Banner's mind, Bella probably never even met her aunt at all.

"No Edward, none of it is normal. I don't even know how to explain it. Until just now, I had no idea that my mom had a twin sister. She always tells people she's an only child. My dad, he… he's never said anything otherwise. To tell you the truth, if any thing I should be feeling relieved in a way." I raised my eyebrows at her on that one. Stunned, yes, but relieved? I was about to ask her how she came up with that answer when she went on:

"All of my life, my parents would start to say 'she just like' and then not say who I was just like. And now I know whom they mean. I…think… they may have been hiding her existence from me." Her voice was swinging from sadness to anger as she spoke. "Why would they do that to me? When I get home I'm going to call my mom and demand to know what this is all about. Then when Charlie gets home I'm going to sit him down and make him explain him self." I had to calm her down: as Jasper would say, it's never good to run off and confront someone before getting your own emotions in check fist. He is, after all, the expert when it comes to emotions.

"Bella, I don't think they were intentionally hiding her existence from you: It's more likely just too difficult for them to speak of her. Sometimes, with the loss of someone dear, the pain is too great, and that keeps them from telling you about her. If you do ask about her, I suggest you do it after you have had time to understand how you feel." I may have been saying that I did not believe that her parents never told her about her aunt out of grief, but a part of me wondered if she was right in her assumption other wise.

Bella just stood there with a thoughtful look on her face for a minute or two, then she finally let out a long breath: "You're right, Edward. I'm being rash." It seemed to cost her a lot to admit it, but I didn't grudge her for it. She was clearly having a hard time.

We stayed in the Bio classroom for another ten minutes before making our way out to the parking lot. I pulled her to me once again when we were by her truck. I was finding it harder and harder to let go of her.

But how _could_ I let go of her when she was still hurting over everything that had happened in Bio? There was also the fact that I was undeniable in love with her. I was there when first my father and my then sister had found their mates, so I knew pretty much first-hand that the love for your mate comes instantaneously. I had seen in all of their minds the need to be near one's love or mate, though it can take the vampire a few days to understand that they had actually found their other half. So why, then, did it surprise me that I could fall so deeply in love with Bella in one day?

I knew it could not be the same for Bella, given that she was human. I would have to think about what this would mean for her and me once she was happy and safe, but until then, she was stuck with me.

I knew my family had arrived, but I was too lost in my own thoughts for once to truly take in what was being said or thought until they were at Volvo. I know I needed to say good-bye to Bella at this point, but it pained me to do so.

Alice had her distracted for the moment, gushing about the shopping trip she was going to inflict on Bella later on, but I only really heard Bella's side of the conversation: she responded to Alice's exuberance with as minimal answers as possible, and I suspected she was only half-aware of what was going on.

Eventually though, the inevitable happened, and we had to part ways. As I let go of her hand, and the electric tingle faded, a piece of the heart she had made beat popped free to stay with her until we could be together again. As we drove away, her truck's engine roared, and I found it a melancholy, lonely sort of sound.

We were almost home when Jasper managed to grab my wandering attention after calling me in his mind quite forcefully. I sent out awareness to let him know he now had my attention, while taking in the thoughts and voices of the other.

Emmett was thinking of asking Jasper to go hunting with him that night so he could try to get a sparring match out of him. Rose was dividing her internal monologue between awe of how good she looked and amusement of how many of the human boys had fallen over them selves to look at her, to the excitement of the shopping trip they would be taking Bella on later. She felt unnerved letting a human into our live this way, but at the same time had to admit to herself that she was growing fonder and fonder of her. Alice was just thrilled to have someone new to shop for.

Jasper let his thought ask his question: he wanted to know why Bella was, as he put it for my benefit, emotionally exhausted: some one who has had too many emotions at once. I knew I would have to fill in the others about what had happened, and what I had learned could lead us to understanding why Bella was so different form other humans. But there was another apart of me that hated having to tell them. It felt like I was betraying her trust in me by sharing something so private. Jasper picking up on my emotions: and asked what was up.

"I'll explain it when we're all home, Jasper." Of course, when I said this, everyone else wanted to know what was going on. "Like l said: I'll tell everyone at home." That seemed to appease them for the time being, seeing as we would be home in less then a minute.

Esme was standing in the living room when we entered, waiting to welcome us home but also wanting to know how everything went with me seeing Bella. Alice had called to let her know what was going on, but she wanted to hear it from me. She wanted to know if her scent was hard on me again today.

"I had no reaction to her scent today mom," was my preemptive comment.

"We should wait for Carlisle, he'll be home…." Alice began before going into a vision. _Carlisle driving down the road that leads to our home. The green glow on his car radio displaying the time as 2:23pm as he pulled his black Mercedes into the garage._ After finding his time of his arrival, she went on:

"…in 4 minutes."

Without a word, I led everyone to the dining room. We never used this room for its intended purpose, just another prop we have if a human were to come here. There was a different use we put this room too, which was whenever we needed to have a family meeting we would all sit around the large, oval, wood table.

Everyone took his or her seats around the table, leaving the head chair for Carlisle when he arrived. Alice's thoughts showed that she knew why I had chosen to sit everyone down this way.

_ "I'm happy for you Edward. From what I have seen, both Jasper and Rose will be somewhat upset about you falling in love with a human, but they'll come around. Everyone else will be worried because she's human, but they'll stay out of your way. She's your mate, so when it comes to her, you have the last say in things,"_ Alice's thoughts helped to me calm down and prepare for what I knew was going to be a hard talk with my family.

As we waited for Carlisle, we sat with out speaking. Rose and Emmett's thoughts were much the same: They believed I had only decided to hold our talk here to discuss Bella's incredible heart beat, abnormally high temperature, and advanced hearing. Rose found it to be appropriate, whereas as Emmet thought I was being over theatrical.

Esme was worried though. I had alleviated her concerns over my losing control over Bella's sent, but she was now worrying that one of us had snapped over something Tyler had done. Oh, how I wished that could have been true.

Jasper had silently come to the conclusion that I must have learned more about Bella, something that could lead us to understand how a human could be… well, like Bella. But he was also wondering if she could have found out what we are.

Carlisle's thoughts were now present also as he pulled onto the dirt road that let to the house. His mind was split between left-over thoughts of different patients he had seen today, wondering how I had handled Bella, and, worst of all, his plans for the night with Esme. As much as I did not begrudge them their physical love, I hated having to see it first-hand.

Once Carlisle opened the front door and discovered that all of our scents were coming from the dinning room, his first train of thought halted, replaced by new thoughts of concern. The first was that perhaps Bella's scent had proven too hard for me to resist, and that we would have to move on.

His thoughts began to move on to how the rest of the family would feel about this, given how everyone seemed to be growing attached to her. I intervened just as he was taking his seat at the head of the table: "It would seem that when Bella is not actually bleeding, her scent does not affect me aversely. In fact, she smelled exquisite. Just not like food." My voice was sharp: I loved this girl. She was my mate! How could he think I could hurt her? _Because when you fist smelled her, all you wanted to do was drain her dry. She's human and you're a monster, that's how,_ my bran shot back at me.

_"Sorry son." _Carlisle thought apologetically. "Apparently something major must of happened for you all to wait here like this for me." His voice held no anger, even if he suspected one of us for slipping and feeding off of a human, just understanding and compassion.

I ran my hand through my hair and let out a long sigh before filling Carlisle and Esme in about everything that had happened through-out the day. Jasper spoke up, wanting to personally describe the meditative state she had been in that morning. Carlisle and Esme, like we had been at the time, were impressed. He went on to tell them how amazed he had been at how fast her emotions would change.

Once explaining to Carlisle about her heart rate, his thoughts went from being impressed to reviewing all known heart conditions that could have caused her heart to beat so wildly fast, and at such a consent rate. When he had gone over everything and found nothing that could account for my description, he wondered if she may have some kind of new and unknown heart disease. After haring Carlisle's thoughts, my concern for Bella's health was even greater. And because Esme was Esme, she was also concerned over her.

I went into great detail about the events that led to Bella ending up in my arms. How I had grabbed her by the waist, left hand cushioning her fall before she could land too hard on my granite skin. Explained how enraged and disgusted I felt when Tyler's mind went from vulgar words to even more vulgar images of Bella laying under him as he violated her, how in that moment, my every instinct screamed for his death. To my great relief, everyone was sympathetic, but glad not to have my 'extra hearing'.

The next part I had to tell them was by far the hardest. It felt so _private_. I could not keep this to myself though, when they had no choice in not keeping anything from me. They knew what the electric current would mean. After all, they all have their other halves. Their loves.

"When our hands met, a sharp, electric spark leapt between our fingers, and this… _current_ ran from our joint hands throughout my whole body."

At these words, everyone's thoughts sailed off in the same direction, except for Alice, of course. Everyone did indeed know what the electric current meant. Carlisle, Emmett, Rose and Esme were all wondered the same thing: '_Does he know what this means?'._ Jasper could read from my emotions that I know what it meant, but he didn't enlighten the rest of the family.

Carlisle was ecstatic for me, but concerned, wondering how my being in love with a human would turn out. He also knew it was for me and me only to figure out. Like Carlisle, Esme was overjoyed for me, and relived as well. She had wondered if I would ever find my mate and get to feel that kind of love in my life.

Emmett was amused, but he also looked at it from a much more serious point of view: he know it would be hard to be so close to a human. The temptation to bite would be hard to over-come.

Rose and Jasper were the ones with the most worries over me falling for Bella. Rose had the hardest time with what we were, and me loving Bella could definitely mean her finding out about us. She hated thinking that now Bella might end up condemned to this life.

"I would never condemn an angel like Bella to this life, Rose!" She did not need to be a mind reader or have Jasper's empathy to know that I was speaking the truth. My rage was evident. She ducked her head, ashamed.

Jasper was also worried about me falling in love with Bella, and was concerned about her learning the truth about us. It was the one true law of our kind that humans never learn the truth of vampires' existence. He had convinced himself that it would be in everyone's best interest to turn her.

Seeing my glower, Jasper exclaimed, "Edward, be_ reasonable!_ She's your mate! The only way is to turn her. It could put us all in danger if she were to ever learn the truth about us, and I won't have Alice in danger, Edward." Jasper had lived a much different kind of life when he was fist turned, and knew first-hand what the Volturi would do if the law was broken. He wanted none of us in that kind of danger, especially Alice.

"Jasper, I understand where you're coming from, I really do…. But _think_ of what you're asking me! You're asking me to destroy her soul," I pleaded.

"Jasper, son, she is Edward's mate. You must let him figure out what to do on his own," Carlisle said putting a stop to our fight.

"Well, if that's it we should…" Carlisle began, but I shook my head at him letting him know there was still more we needed to tell him.

"There's still a lot more we need to tell you about what happened today, and about Bella."

_"More? Please, go on then,"_ he thought.

I went through everything that hapend when Tyler showed up, and how Alice had lied to him, telling him that we were a couple, and then went on to tell him the story Alice had fabricated.

"Carlisle, right after Alice said we were together she…. Bella dropped her voice lower than is possible for a human to whisper, so low that she shouldn't have been able to hear herself. Down to our level." Both Carlisle and Esme were stunned.

"We were also all stunned, and she realized this at once and started to apologize to us. That's when I dropped my voice to its lowest and reassured her that she had nothing to apologize for and that I would honored to help her and didn't mind if people thought we're dating as long as _she_ was okay with it. She did not have time to say anything back, because Tyler asked how we could have stated dating when I'd been out all week. However, later on in the day we would find time to speak to one another in low whispers, so I know her hearing is as good as ours."

The only thing running through Esme's mind at this point was how could a human do this thing, and that we would all have to be careful when we were with her.

Carlisle mind was filled with acute curiosity, as he first wondered if she could be one of the wolves from La Push, but quickly dismissed that thought. I would have never wanted her blood if she was and for another thing, everyone's instincts would have told us to fight her, not help her. Lastly from what everyone had told him, she smelled good; just not good in food way.

He had no answers, medically speaking or otherwise, for why she could speak so low and hear so well. She seemed to be human, but not human at the same time… So then was it just some genetic fluke that was the causing her to be so different then other humans?

"Tell me everything she said, did, what you all have said to her. Do you think she would let me examine her? Do a few tests maybe see what I can find, that makes her so unlike any other human?" Carlisle's curiosity was getting out of hand. I was growing afraid he would frighten her if he got anywhere near her.

"Maybe we'll go at this slowly, Dad. Form what I can tell, she seems to hide her differences from people," I said hoping to rein him in, for once.

"Mm… I'm sorry son: you're right."

I did, however, comply with his wishes to know everything thing that was said and done today. I was only interrupted, once by Esme, when she asked if they were actually going shopping with Bella today. Alice answered with 'yes, as soon as we're done here'. Esme declared that she was going with, and no one disagreed.

I found it was hard to tell them about her reaction to finding out about her aunt. It like the first time we touched. It felt overly personal. Made me feel like I was betraying her trust.

"So that was why she was emotionally exhausted. It's good you calmed her down. Most people end up saying a lot of things they regret when the let their raw emotions lead them," Jasper said.

"Do you think she was right in assuming that her aunt's existence was hidden from her intentionally?" I asked everyone. I, for one, was inclined to trust her gut reaction.

Everyone seemed to think it that was likely too.

"I'm going to go back to the hospital to see if I can get my hands on any of her medical records. Maybe those of her parents and extended relatives too, they may give us some kind of clue as to why Bella is so unusual." Carlisle said before getting up and wishing Esme fun on her shopping trip and kissing her good-bye.

"We'll bring Bella by here when you're done shopping. We'll call before we leave so you can at least meet her, Carlisle." Carlisle was pleased at Alice's words, but I was over flowing with joy at the idea of seeing her again tonight.

"Oh, Edward, before we go the PJs Alice ask me to get for you are up in your room," Esme called to me as the three girls were getting reedy to leave and get Bella. I was puzzled at first as to why Alice would ask her to get me pajamas when Alice's thoughts hit me.

She had had a vision of me her sitting on the living room couch and an empty space that we were both looking at. I was wearing nothing but pj pants.

"NO, Alice, you will not get me to sit here with Bella in our home with nothing but pj pants on," I growled at her.

"O_h… but I think you will, Eddy_. Because, you see, I know she'd _love_ seeing you like that. It will make her happy, for one, and for two, you _do_ want to make it up to me for running off, don't you?" Damn it. Shorty had me there. Before I could say anything else to her, Esme and Rose were running out to my car and pulling away.

Well, if it would make her happy, then why the hell not?


	14. Chapter 14 Questions

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people.

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**Thank you**

Thank you to everyone how is reading and to everyone how is reviewing this story.

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**A/N **

I'm hoping to get the next chapter out in once to two weeks.

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**Chapter 14 questions  
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**Carlisle: POV: **

As I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, my mind was still replaying everything that my children had told me a few minuets ago. I need to gain as much information on Miss Isabella Swan that I was able. Not just to appease my curiosity, but for my son Edward's peace of mind. When I voiced my thoughts that Bella's elevated heart rate could be a sigh of an unknown cardiac condition, Edward's face had showed more emotional pain than I had ever seen from him.

As much as I kept going over all of it again, and again, I had to focus my attention back to the matter at hand. I needed to infiltrate the hospital records room without detection. It would look peculiar if one of my colleagues were to discover me looking through records that didn't in fact belong to any of my patients.

It was times like this it was good to be a vampire, once I heard the foot steps of the records clerk going to have coffee break, I knew I had ten minutes to complete my task. In ten minutes, I could have every file in the room read. Forks _is_ a small town after all.

It had taken over a minute to find any medical record of Isabella at all. Her file, along with her mother's, aunts, and grandparents on both sides had all been moved to a section of inactive records. Her father's records were the only ones left in active section.

I glanced over Isabella records first, but what I was faced with was unusual. Apparently, Isabella mother had delivered her at her father's home by a midwife. The records in her file, being the handwritten report of the midwife, stated that there had been no complications during labor and delivery. At birth she had also had a normal weight, at seven pounds three ounces. Her length, temperature, and heart rate had also been recorded as normal. Her official recorded birth date stood to be 1:19 a.m. September 13th. The last document I discovered seemed strange somehow: her birth certificate. How she had obtained a birth certificate without being admitted into the hospital confounded me.

After going over her records, I proceeded to her parent's files, looking for any history of cardiac conditions and found nothing. I moved on to her grandparents. It would seem both sets of her grandparents had passed on when she was still very young, however it was only from normal illness you would find from old age. The only abnormal death in the family would be her mother's twin sister, who had died as a result of an animal attack.

The coroner's report showed that her body was discovered with her lower abdomen turned open and a small wound just above her right breast. The coroner report concluded that an animal must have inflicted both wounds. The coroner's findings also showed that she had been dead for close to three weeks before her body was found.

I had gone over all of her family's medical files and found no history of any cardiac conditions or any other genetics condition at all. In fact, all I could deduct form her family's medical history is that she would have inherited very good genes. This left me with many more questions than answers, answers I wanted for both my self and my son.

I returned all of the files back from were I had found them and left the hospital records room undetected. I could still hear the records clerk at the hospital cafeteria drinking his coffee. I left the hospital with more questions bouncing around my head instead of any answers and I now I needed to get back home and share what I had found out about Edward's mate with hem.  
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**Edward's POV:  
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I Involuntarily groaned when Carlisle's thoughts were in range of me: his mind was going over Bella and Bella's family files. His focus had been on looking for any abnormal heath conditions,

particularly cardiac conditions and had missed that her mother's file was lacking any reports of prenatal check-up. I found this to be a significant abnormality and was astonished he had not picked up on it.

After hearing my groan both Emmett and Jasper joined me in the living room.

"_Why so frustrated Edward?"_ Jaspers mental voice asked, just as Emmett asked, _"What's the groan about… and what's up with the PJ pants and no shirt?"_

Before I could respond to them, Carlisle's car could be heard pulling onto the road leading to the house. Both their faces and thoughts lit up with understanding that my groan had been in response to Carlisle's thoughts. None of us said anything as we waited for Carlisle to pull his car into the garage and come inside.

Once Carlisle stepped inside, his gazes swept over the three of us, finally landing on me.

"How long have you been listening, Edward?" Apparently one look at my face told him that I had heard his thoughts.

"As soon as you were in range. You had time to go over every file in detail more then once, and there is _something_ or a _lack _there of, that I found to be a considerable abnormality." Before I had completed speaking my thought to my father, his mind was furiously going over all the medical files once more. He stopped when he hit Bella's, assuming her file was the one I meant, given that it had just about nothing in it to speak of.

"I don't know if you could even call Bella's file a _file_. The person I was referring to is her mother. Even if she had a midwife perform a home birth, there should be some reports on her receiving prenatal cheek-ups when she was carrying Bella…_ But,_ from what I see, there was nothing in her file at all." After voicing my findings, Carlisle's mind was trying to come up with some kind of explanation as to why there would be no reports regarding Bella's mother's prenatal care.

"Hey, could one of you tell Jazz and me what's up? I, for one, would like to know what the hell you two are going on about," Emmett huffed.

Carlisle took the liberty of explaining what he had done, and what he had discovered. And for the next two hours, we all sat in the living room going over everything. By the time Alice called, letting us know that they plus Bella would be getting here in thirty-two minutes and to be ready, the four of us had only succeeded in amassing more questions. Had Bella been different from birth or had her differences developed over time? Had her parents known their baby girl would not be like other children, or did they even know at all?

Alice being the all knowing sister she is, knew just when their thoughts would be in my rang, and when they were, she mentally ran over every second of the shopping trip with Bella for me to see. I let my father and brothers know the girls were now in range of my talent.

Carlisle went to stand by the door; Emmett and Jasper went off to _act _as if they were playing a video game. This left me sitting on the couch, with my inner gentleman berating me over allowing _my_ Bella to see me half-naked.

My inner gentleman was beginning to win out when we heard my Volvo pull onto the road, and I was getting up to put a shirt on when Alice's mental voice blasted at me, _"No you don't Edward, I told you it will make you, Bella and myself happy. You tell the gentleman in you I said to shut his trap!"_ I sat back down immediately, knowing she could very well rip me to pieces if I did not and waited impatiently to be in Bella's presence once again.

We gave the girls our full attention as they converse commutable with Bella. Jasper began testing Bella's emotions, as they talked about the overall aesthetic of our home. She was filled with awe, amazement, anticipation, hope, longing, and exhaustion.

"_Edward, I don't know if you're keeping your mind open to my thoughts or not, but the amount of different emotions running through Bella right now… I don't…. know how to say this, but I never knew a human that could feel this many emotions at once, even when I…. feed on them."_ Jasper mental voice grew sad and filled with self-loathing when he thought of feeding from humans, but that was just part of his old life. He had not known there was another way back then. But right now, none of us could soothe him because Alice was almost literally dragging Bella through the door by the hand.

I looked through the eyes of my family as Bella took in our home for the fist time._ 'First time'? How many times do I expect her to be here? Okay, so as many times as I can get her to come. _

Both Carlisle and Jasper were analyzing as much as they could of my angel as I listened in on their thoughts. The first thing Carlisleobserved about my love was just how much her skin tone was like ours. This was followed by her scent: he was almost completely desensitized to humans' scents, but with her there was _no _light burn in his throat or pull of venom in his mouth. _None._ As he took in her heart rate, he could barely contain his wonder.

'_Edward, in all my time on this earth, I have never heard a heart beat like hers. It's musical, like lessening to a humming bird as it flies.'_ Carlisle thought over to me.

'_Edward, just as Carlisle's emotions are showing him taking in Bella, her are showing the same about him. I thank she can tell we're not like the humans.'_ Jaspers mental voice, radiating with worry, filled my mind. I had to wonder why he was just picking this up now. She had whispered to us, knowing no one should be able to hear her, and yet she had know we could.

"Hello. You must be Isabella Swan. I am Carlisle Cullen," my father said, stepping forward slowly so as to not alarm her and raising his hand for her to shake in a very human way.

"It's nice to meet you, Dr. Cullen." Bella replied warmly, taking my father's hand. Once Carlisle took hold of her hand, he noticed just how high her temperature was. Over the years of working as a doctor, he could tell what a person's temperature was by just a touch, and he picked her up at one hundred and eight._ 'How… she… no human…. how… one hundred and eight…. how…?' _was running through his mind in a rush of incoherency and causing my anxiety to go up ten fold.

Even with my father's mind still consumed with just how different Bella was from other humans, he still had the ability to act as though there was nothing going on, and kept up the pleasantries. Doctor training came in handy, it seemed.

"Isabella, please call me Carlisle. My family has told me so much out you." As soon as Carlisle told her we had told him a lot about her, Jasper picked up her anxiety jumping up, and the need to hide and flee.

"Well then, please call me Bella," Bella replayed in a slightly higher voice, making her anxiety known to everyone in the room. I watched from Carlisle's mind as her eyes swept over the room, coming to a stop when she found the top of my head over the coach. With her eyes still on me, her body seemed to relax and then that small smile lit up her face, making my heart swell with joy.

"_Finally,"_ Alice huffed, grabbing Bella by the arm and leading her over to me. I could feel her eyes on me and that gentleman was yelling that she must think me vastly improper and vulgar, sitting here with no shirt on. I focused in on Jasper's thoughts as Bella and Alice made there way to me.

"_Lust, and lots of it, all focused at Edward… Wait, it's unfamiliar to her… Hehe. Must be the first time she's felt lust. Do you even know how innocent this girl is? Man this is getting to me. I wonder if I could grab Alice and just go upstairs?"_ I had never liked when human or vampire girls felt lust for me, but with Bella I was over the moon about it. Jasper's impression that it was the first time she had ever felt it was making it all the better. Thank you, Alice for making the gentleman in me stay quiet.

As I was thanking Alice in my head, she was pulling Bella down on the couch to sit between us, just how she had described to Tyler this morning. That felt like so long ago now. Bella's head turned from me to Alice three times before a wave of giggles burst out of her. It took her about two minutes to stop giggling, then she look over at me with a magnificence smile.

"I'm willing to bet Alice had something to do with you sitting down here in your PJs, am I right?" she ask with a laugh that was turning into a yawn. Oh, how much my Bella had picked up about us in only one day. As much I wanted to keep her here with us, I could see just how tired she was becoming. I know I would need to take her home soon.

_'Oh, she looks so tired! My poor baby needs to sleep. I haven't had to think of one of my children needing rest before.'_ Esme didn't realize it, but she was seeing Bella as one of her own children already, and that made me happy. But like me, she too picked up that unlike her other children, Bella needed to sleep. I was just going to suggest I escort her home when my mother beat me to it.

"Alice dear, Edward dear, why don't you take Bella home? She looks tired."

"_I know you would like to be just the two of you, Edward. But it wouldn't look good to her dad if she came home late with just you after going out on all-girl shopping trip,"_ Alice thought at me. I hated to admit it, but I know she was right.

"We'd be happy too, but I'll need to put on something more appropriate first," I answered for us before getting up and going to put on more appropriate artier.

Alice engaged Bella in conversation on our short drive to her home. I only needed minimal attention to drive, leaving me able to give the greater part of my attention on the answers Bella provided to Alice's questions.

Alice's questions were simple: how did Bella like going to high school verses being home schooled, to which Bella answered that, 'she found she had already learned most of what was being taught to us currently'. Then she asked the same of both of us, and we replied that we felt the same as she did.

Alice asked about her friends back in Arizona. Bella told her that she never really had any friends. Being home schooled, she never met any one her own age, and that her mother had been her only friend. The way she had said it make it clear just how isolated she had been.

Alice jumped in right away, telling her that she now had her, Jasper, Rose, Emmett and me. With a smile and tears in her eyes, she looked between us and said she felt the same way about us. Her words made me both delighted and terribly depressed: delighted because she could call us her friends, and depressed because the selfish part of me longed for us to be much more. She said this to us just as we pulled in front of her house.

I looked up at the two-story white-with-blue-trim house as I pulled Bella's bags from the trunk of the Volvo. This was not my first time seeing Chief Swan's house, of course. But when I had seen it before, it had been just any other house. Now, with Bella living in it, it was the only house in this town worth paying attention to.

While we all made our way up to her front door, in dawned on me that I was about it meet the father of woman I love for the first time. With this new realization, I was becoming incredibly nervous: I wanted him to approve of me. It was completely unrealistic to want this. After all, I was the last kind of man any man would approve of for his daughter. After all, I was a monster. Not human at all.

Chief Swan's thoughts came into my hand just as Bella opened the door. He was going over the rumor he had heard in town about his daughter dating one of the withdrawn Cullen kids. His thoughts centered on concern over the rumor as he considered how he was going to confront his daughter over it.

He did not enjoy the idea of his baby girl dating, but that's not what seemed to be of concern to him. No, he was anxious that she would slip up and one of us would realize just how different his baby was from other people.

It would look like at least one of my questions about Bella had finally been answered: her father, it would seem, knew she was special.

"Bells?" her father called out once she had opened the door.

"Hey, Dad. I have some fiends with me." Bella called to her dad, clearly nervous, as she led Alice and I through the entrance-way of their home into a small, very clean kitchen. The kitchen cabinets were panted a yellow color, and in the middle of the room sat a wooden table with six miss-matched chairs, and there was also a small wooden table next to the counted with a phone sitting on top of it.

She led us through the kitchen and into the living room, where her father was getting up from his spot on the coach. Her father looked almost too young for the job of parenting, but Bella herself had told me her father was only nineteen when she was born. He was a good bit taller than Bella, and the only true resemblance between she and her father was that the both had curls in their hair along with having brown eyes, though the brown was different.

Seeing me with Bella made him think that perhaps there was something to the rumors of us dating, and he wanted to get to the bottom of his suspicions right off, even if it would cause some awkwardness. But before he could ask anything, Bella was making introductions.

"Dad, this is Alice Cullen," Bella said, looking over at Alice as Alice raised her hand to shake with Bella's father.

"It's nice to meet you ser." Alice smiled a small sweet small at Chief Swan as she shock her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, and call me Charlie. I hope you _girls _had fun today." Chief Swan's thoughts showed he was growing a soft spot of my sister. Though form the blush on his face as he spoke to Alice, I wouldn't even have to hear his thoughts to know that.

"Dad…. Um, _Dad_," Bella said, clearly trying to regain his attention form my sister. Once he looks her way, she went on.

"Dad, this is Edward Cullen, Alice's brother." Bella's voice was strained with nervousness as she introduces me. She looked down at the shopping bags I was still holding and took the one I was holding in my right hand, probably so I could shake hands like Alice had.

"It's an honor to meet you, Chief Swan." I raised my now-free right hand to shake his. He was taking in my every move and was (so far) thinking that I was raised well and was good mannered. Seeing as I had carried all of his daughter's bags in for her and was addressing him formally. He was impressed so far, but did not know if he could be okay with her dating anyone, given how he felt it could be dangerous for Bella, if any one found out just how different she was. I found that even as nervous as I was about meeting her father, I had also been hoping to learn more about Bella via her father's mind, and was becoming more and more put out that he would only think that she was different and not go into how and why.

He took a good look at me as we shook hands and tried to slyly peek at Alice form the corner of his eye. It would have worked too, if I were human. _'They seem different… maybe they're like Bella! Maybe she not the only person out there that's like her. But they're cold, and she's hot. But if… okay, big if… IF they are, that would be wonderful for Bella. She could have someone to really talk too, people that would understand'._ Charlie's mind was filling with hope at the idea of Bella truly having people that were like her in her life, but he was also worried that if he was wrong and that we weren't, she may end up feeling even lonelier than she already did.

"Edward. Call me Charlie." His mind was sill hoping and then not hoping that Alice and I could some how be like Bella. And just like that, he made up his mind to tell her that she should be careful, but that perhaps some day she could tell us all about her self. Just not right now. After making this decision, his mind was enjoying picturing how shocked she would be, given that he and her mother had always told her that under no circumstances was she to tell anyone anything about how different she was.

Charlie's thought turned in a new direction as he looked at the shopping bags I was still holding along with the bag Bella had taken from me. _'Hm, I thought Bella hated shopping, that she was only going because she wanted to get new curtains, but from the look of all that, there's no way that it could be just curtains.'_

"So, Bells, it looks like you had fun." The surprise in his voice was evident, causing Bella to flush and then throw a glare over at Alice.

"I did have fun, but all this…" she said as she held up her bags and then shot a look at the ones in my hands, and glaring over at Alice once more. "was all the doing of that pixie's pout."

"You don't mean me, do you Bella?" Alice asked with her pout out for us all to see, and her voice as sweet and innocent as it could be. Her internal monologue, however, was gloating: _'it works every time. I wanted to get her new things, and without the pout, she would have been even more difficult about it.'_

Bella and Charlie reactions were priceless at the Alice Pout. Bella had a look of utter defeat while Charlie's face showed only sympathy. Like ever other person (or vampire for that matter), he would do just about anything or give her anything she wanted to replace that pout with a smile.

"So you got pulled in by my sister's infamous pout," I said through my laughter. God, Alice was good.

Bella looked away form Alice and took a few deep breaths before she spoke: "Don't fall for it Dad. She used that pout to get to go look at clothes and try almost everything in the store on. I told her that_I_ would buy myself _one_ outfit. Then she went and snuck off, buying me everything else she deemed would look good on me. When I was trying to get her to return everything, she used that pout on me again to get me to accept it. I'm telling you, Dad, that pout is dangerous." Bella said all of this, deliberately not looking at Alice, or at least that's what it seemed to me.

"Well, if you would just accept gifts without all the fuss and nonsense, I wouldn't have to resort to the pout," Alice said with the pout still in place and that oh-so-innocent voice of hers.

_ 'Oh, I'll break her of not accepting gifts somehow. I know you like that too, Edward don't tell me you haven't thought of about a hundred thing you like to give her,'_ Alice thought to me, knowing whispering was out.

"Bella, why don't you let me hang up those curtains for you," I suggested, trying to distract everyone form my flamboyant sister and hoping to get just a few minuets of Bella's undivided attention, being the selfish creature I am.

"Thanks, but you know you don't have to, right? I mean, I could do it later." Then she dropped her voice to a whisper her father had no hope of hearing. "I know how Alice keeps pushing you to do things for me, but please don't feel obligated to anything." A lovely blush crept over her face as she said this.

"I know I don't have to Bella. I _want_ to. Why don't you show me were you wont them hung?" I then dropped my voice as low as hers had been. "Bella, I don't feel obligated to do anything, and Alice did not push me into doing anything I didn't to want to do, okay? I love being around you." I had to wonder if she understood that I loved being around her because I was _in love_ with her.

"Okay… so, Dad, I'm going to help Edward put up my new curtains," she informed him just as Alice grabbed his attention by asking how he likes being the Police Chief in such a small town.

_"Have fun with your one-on-one time with Bella. I'll keep her dad busy talking," _Alice thought at me. I was going to have to buy her something nice as a think you.

_"How about you just share Bella with me from time to time, because I just know the two of us are going to be best friends,"_ Alice thought at me once she had a small vision of me looking for a gift for her.

"This way," Bella said as she headed up a hardwood staircase. The walls lining the staircase held no art or photos of any kind, which I found unusual. The landing of the stairs held three doors; two closed with only the metal one left open. The first door must have been Charlie's bedroom, given that his scent was seeping out from under the door. The door that had been left open was clearly the bathroom, with the scents of Bella's strawberry shampoo and her father's shaving cream wafting out of it. Once we had made it to the last door, she opened it to reveal her room, her condensed scent flowing out and around me. I could not help the deep breath I took, pulling her scent seep into me.

I had seen Bella's room once before, but only in one of Alice's visions. Seeing it with my own eyes was a whole different experience. Seeing the light blue of her walls that seemed to be the same blue as the trim of the house, seeing her elderly computer that belonged in a museum showing antique electronics. I was hoping Alice could get Bella to except gifts soon, because I desperately wanted to replace it.

"You can put those down on the bed, Edward," she said to me as she put her own bags down on her twin size bed. I put my bags down next to the ones she had set down.

As she dug around in the bags to find the new curtains, I went to the window to take down the old ones. Just as I was reaching up to pull down her curtain rod, I spotted Tyler's dark blue van parked about a mile and a half down the rood. He had parked it under a tree, making it nearly camouflaged.

My anger froze me in place: his mind was out of my normal rang, however if I concentrated, I could hear hem. What I found there only caused my anger to go up substantially._ 'Oh, fuck, Cullen is with her… no, wait, this could be good! Maybe I'll get a show! No… no… no, that should be me in there! Only I should be fucking her! Goddamn it, Cullen!' _Then the mental fantasies started, which started my protective instincts over my mate to kick in. My mind was screaming, _Bella is __**my mate!**_ He had no right to think of her in this way! I let out a growl, and once it began it would not stop. It was not at all quiet, but not so loud that her father could hear it either.

I was about it give in to the instinct to eliminate the threat to my mate, when I felt Bella's hand sliding around my back as her other slipped around my chest, filling my body with the electricity that always seemed to flow into me at her touch.

"Edward, what's making you so mad?" her voice was soft and was filled with concern. As much as I wanted to look into her open and wonderfully deep brown eyes, I could not unlock my gaze from Tyler's. He could not see my murderous intentions, but his self-preservation instincts kicked in anyways as a shiver ran down his spine. _'Man, this is creepy… maybe I should come back another night…'_

"Oh, he's back," she said with a slight growl of her own. But as she said it, Tyler started up his van to make his escape, allowing me to look down into Bella's face.

"He's leaving…. But… he's never left this early before." Her voice filled with happiness and relief, her face lighting up at his departure, and her eyes shining with joy and gratitude.

"Thank you, for what ever it was you did," my angle whispered. Before I knew what was happening, she had stood up on her tip toes, her face move closer to my own as I stood there, frozen stiff. At the last moment, my eyes locked on her eyes. For an indescribably painful millisecond, I saw, or at least I wanted desperately to believe I saw love for me as mine was for her shining in her eyes.

I mourned it when she turned her head and I lost sight of her eyes, until I felt her warm, soft lips press onto my cheek, and a feeling of bliss ran through me. The electricity that ran through me when we touched redoubled a thousand times, making every cell in my body come alive with a joy even harder to describe than the yearning I had felt moments before.


	15. Chapter 15 instinct

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people.

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**Thank you**

Thank you to everyone how is reading and to everyone how is reviewing this story.

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**A/N **

So this is a short chapter but I'm going on vacation and the soonest I'll be-abele to updated will be in three weeks. Sorry about that.

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**Chapter 15: ****instinct  
**

**Bella pov:  
**

I was completely relaxed sitting in the back-set of Edward's Volvo as he took me home, despite his fast driving. Just being with Edward appeared to have a relaxing affect on me. Which was strange given we had met just this morning. Feeling relaxed in another person's presence was a new feeling for me, come to think of it. I had never felt truly relaxed with anyone before, not even my own parents.

I wondered what it was about Edward that brought out this feeling. I felt at ease around the other Cullens, with the exception of Carlisle, but that was just because he is a doctor. But with Edward it was different, more comfortable.

"Bella, how do you like going to a real high school instead of being home schooled?" Alice asked, turning slightly to look at me, bring me out of my own little bubble.

" Um.... it's different? There's not much of a challenge in any of my classes here in Forks. It more like reviewing everything I've already learned," I said, remembering when Edward had said he and his siblings had been home schooled until coming to Forks.

"What about you two? Edward said you were home schooled until moving to Forks?" I asked.

"It's about the same for use too. Wouldn't you agree Edward?" Alice said with boredom in her voice.

"Yes, I would have to agree with both of you on that one." Edward said.

"What are your friends back in Arizona like?" Alice asked.

"Oh… um, well" I mumbled in embarrassment. I had no idea how to tell them I had never had any friends besides Mom. She had never let me meet other people untell I was seventeen, given how _different _I was growing up. I looked down at my hands clasped in my lap. I needed to tell them something, and I couldn't bring myself to lie to them, so I went with at least a small part of the truth.

"Being home schooled, I never really had a chance to meet kids my age. Then when I started school, I had no idea how to act, so my only real friend was my mom." My situation had never made me feel lonely before, but telling them that only person in my life had been my mother made me feel lonely somehow.

"Bella, you do know you have me, Rose, Jasper, Emmet and Edward as friends now," Alice reminded me. I was overwhelmed by the love and acceptant in her voice.

"Thank you," I said with a smile as the tears in my eyes threatening to leak out. "I feel the same about all of you." As I said that it seemed true, but dreadfully wrong at the same time. With Edward, at least it was more… I didn't understand more what exactly, I just know I felt something.

Before I had time to think about it too much, we were pulling up in front of the two-story white-with-blue-trim house I called home. We all existed the car and Edward opened the trunk of his Volvo and pulled all of my bags out. I reached out to take some from him but he shook his head at me and smiled.

I led Edward and Alice into the house and into the living room, calling to Charlie that I had friends with me.

Charlie had an anxious look on his face when we came into the living room. The only reason I could think of for his anxiety would be him worrying about me becoming to close to someone, the way Mom always was. I understood why they worried so much, but I wanted to have friends and be close to someone besides them. Was that really so unreasonable?

I stated to worry that he might tell me I had to keep my distance from them, that I couldn't see them anymore. It hurt to think of not being around the Cullens, but it down right killed me to think of not seeing Edward. Before I could jump to any more conclusions, I interrupted myself to make the introductions.

"Dad, this is Alice Cullen," I introduced Alice first, finding that I was strangely nervous to introduce Edward.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Alice smiled a small, sweet smile, aimed at melting hearts as she shook my father's hand. It was the sweetest smile I'd seen on her yet, and that was saying something

"It's nice to meet you, and call me Charlie. I hope you _girls _had fun today." The way he said 'girls' let me new he had been wondering if Edward had come with us. I, however, was more surprised by the blush he was wearing as he spoke to Alice. Maybe I wouldn't have to worry about him telling me to keep distance after all.

I just hoped he would be equally taken with Edward, as he seemed to be with Alice. I had an over-all need for him to approve of Edward, and again, I had on idea why.

"Dad…." I called, trying to regain his attention from Alice. It didn't work. "Um, _Dad_," I tried again. This time he looked over at me.

"Dad, this is Edward Cullen, Alice's brother," I said, my voice strained with nervousness, hoping my father would like Edward. I looked over at Edward, and my eyes hit the shopping bags he had so nicely brought in for me and was still holding. I grabbed the ones out of his right hand so he and my father could shake hands if they wanted to.

"It's an honor to meet you, Chief Swan," Edward said to my father raising his right hand to shake with Charlie's. My father did not respond right away: he just seemed to be looking Edward over.

For a split second, it looked as though Edward was becoming upset with my father's lack of response, but it disappeared before anyone else had seen.

Finally, my father seemed to remember his manners and took Edward's right hand to shake.

"Edward. Call me Charlie."

I watched carefully as Edward and Charlie shook, looking for some kind of indication as to how they liked each other. Charlie's look was measuring and reserved, while Edward's was smoothly polite and respectful. But something… was it my imagination, or did he look the slightest bit frustrated?

The silence stretched on almost to the point of discomfort, their hands going up-down-up-down-up-down. Finally, Dad broke contact. He seemed to have reached some sort of conclusion.

"So, Bells, it looks like you had fun." His tone was wry and vaguely surprised; making he blush hot and shoot Alice the meanest glare I could muster.

"I did have fun," I admitted. "But all _this_…" I indicated the shopping bags Edward and I still held, "was all the doing of that pixie's pout." I glared at Alice once again

"You don't mean me, do you Bella?" Alice asked, bringing out the infernal pout for us all to see, her voice as sweet and innocent as it could be. My anger melted under her glance. How could someone so sweet and innocent be the target of my anger?

Damn. She had me again.

"So, you got pulled in by my sister's infamous pout," Edward said, laughing good-naturedly. This, more than anything, did the job of distracting me from a certain annoying pixie-people.

Nonetheless, my father had to be warned. I took a few deep, steadying breaths before saying, "Don't fall for it Dad. She used that pout to get me to go look at clothes and try almost everything in the store on. I told her that_I_ would buy myself _one_ outfit. Then she went and snuck off, buying me everything else she deemed would look good on me. When I was trying to get her to return everything, she used that pout on me again to get me to accept it. I'm telling you, Dad, that pout is dangerous." I said all this without looking at Alice. I could not handle being driven off track _again_ by The Pout.

"Well, if you would just accept gifts without all the fuss and nonsense, I wouldn't have to resort to the pout," Alice said with the pout still in place and that oh-so-innocent voice of hers. I scowled.

"Bella, why don't you let me hang up those curtains for you," Edward suggested to my very great relief. I HAD to get away from Alice!

"Thanks, but you know you don't have to, right? I mean, I could do it later." With the help of many hours, my father, and the Coast Guard, I though, but didn't say. Suddenly, an appalling thought struck me: "I know how Alice keeps pushing you to do things for me, but please don't feel obligated to anything." I dropped my voice down to that whisper level that I was certain he could hear, uncertain only about the reception such a comment might find in him. I couldn't help blushing at my own presumptuousness.

"I know I don't have to Bella. I _want_ to. Why don't you show me were you wont them hung?" My mood sank as he responded to my first comment. Had he not heard me? Was he offended? Should I not have whispered?

"Bella, I don't feel obligated to do anything, and Alice did not push me into doing anything I didn't to want to do, okay? I love being around you." My mood lifted as his voice dropped to answer my whisper, and his answer likewise worked wonders on my self-confidence.

"Okay… so, Dad, I'm going to help Edward put up my new curtains," I hoped my voice didn't betray how nervous and eager I was, but even if it had, Alice grabbed his attention away fast enough that he wouldn't have noticed.

"This way," I murmured as I led him up the narrow stairs. I took them slowly, trying to buy myself time before I had to look him in the face again. I had a few things that needed sorting out before anything else happened. Walking up the stairs to my room with Edward following me made my nerves, already frayed from a long day of too many things happening, come just a little more unraveled, but at the same time, there was still that sensation of comfort and relaxation when I was with him. It was so strange and paradoxical that I just couldn't think straight, and tried to push it towards the back of my head.

When we reached the landing, my nervousness only increased: I hadn't cleaned my room up for a week, and the mess was disgraceful. I felt my face get hot and all my consciousness became hyperaware that _Edward_ was about to follow me into _my_ messy room. I took a deep breath, and let the door swing open.

Ok, so maybe it wasn't _that_ bad. True, there were book and papers scattered helter-skelter across the floor, and I'd forgotten to make my bed that morning, but at least there weren't any forgotten undergarments lying around like I had feared.

"You can put those down on the bed, Edward," I said as I put my own bags down on the bed. I began digging around in them to find the curtains. This action served a dual purpose: one, it let me find the curtains, which I actually had to do. But for two, it let me get command of my rampant emotions before I had to look him in the face again. I heard him going to the windows behind me, probably examining the centuries-old curtain rod.

There was a short silence, in which I rustled around in the bags and he seemed to freeze solid.

Then he started to growl.

I spun around, terrified. That sound alone was enough to rip my mind away from all feelings of nervousness, anxiety, and comfort: Edward was in pain. I had to help him. His tense, almost violent pose, haloed by the sulfurous streetlight outside awoke in me feelings I hadn't even known I had. There was suddenly an _instinct,_ a drive to do anything in the world to make his discomfort end.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I had crossed the room and slid my arms around him. "Edward," I whispered. "What's making you so angry?" I relished the electric shock I still got when we touched, but my attention remained fixed on him. He barely even seemed to hear me, his eyes fixated on something out the window and down the road.

My gut knotted with anxiety as I saw what he was staring at. "Oh, he's back," I muttered, with a smaller growl of my own.

All of a sudden, the van's ignition roared to life, and he sped away down the street. I was aware of Edward's gaze on my face, but I was too dumbstruck to return it.

"He's leaving…. But… he's never left this early before." Joy and relief flowed through me, blotting out my earlier anxiety. "Thank you, for whatever you did," I murmured, and hoped Edward knew I was talking to him.

What happened next seemed preordained: I looked up at him, his face lit from that same street lamp, stood up on my tip-toes, and placed my lips on his cheek. It felt _right,_ like a continuation of the instinct that had led me to place my arms around him. Our eyes met for a split second, but I saw no revulsion, no disgust, as I had been half-expecting. And he did not pull away. Instead, he relaxed into my arms, and when I pulled away, his eyes were closed.


	16. Chapter 16 library

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own.

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**Hello:** everyone I'm sorry this chapter has taken so long to come out. Fist I moved to a new apartment then after everything was moved in not unpack, I went to Ireland with my mother and grandmother. This chapter is short and I'm sorry about that two.

**The next chapter,** will take some time do because of a few things. It will be the chapter Edward saves Bella from the van. However it's going to be a lot different then in Twilight and you may guess what Bella is. I'm going to leave a longer a/note at the end of the Chapter telling you way it will be taking a long time to get the next chapter to you all.

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Chapter 16 library:

Bella's POV:

_My heartbeat was the only sound that could be heard in the black comfort enveloping me. Lying there, I wondered why I did not feel fear or loneliness in this world of nothing. I closed my eyes as a feeling love and reassurance washed over me, bringing with it a softer, slower beat. _

_ Suddenly, a woman's humming could be heard, faint and far away, creating a tranquil song when added to my own heartbeat and the other, slower one. I let myself get lost in the new melody, and the feeling of love and comfort._

_ "What do you think it is?" my dad's worried voiced asked into the darkness._

_ "I believe I'm having a beautiful baby girl, is what I think it is," my mother's voice answered. It was softer than normal, like it always seemed to be in this black, nothing world. _

_ "Wh…what if you're wrong…? What if…?" This time Charlie seemed to be stumbling over his words; his voice was so strained with worry and fear. The loving and comforting sensation did not falter even at my father's fear, a fear that seemed to be aimed at me. _

_ "I don't think I'm wrong. Though she could be a he. But…. Oh, I don't know how to explain it…. I just somehow… feel I'm having a beautiful baby girl. My little Isabella. Isabella means beautiful in Italian, you know. The perfect name for my beautiful little girl." My mothers reassuring voice left no room for debate. _

**Bzzzzzzz…**

I slammed my hand down on my alarm as my subconscious mind gave way for my conscious mind to reawaken. I had always had vivid dreams, and for the last week, my dreams had seemed to be the same, yet somehow they were different. The same in that they were still taking place in the dark, warm place, but my mother's words differed every time. They were like those womb dreams I read about.

I let my mind wander over the last week to that first vivid dream as I started preparing for the morning, dismissing the dream until I could really focus on it. Say, like in math class. The first dream was different then the ones following it. My mother had told me to find my 'mate'. The electric flow that engulfed me when the mystery man had caught me in the dream was a weaker version than the one I felt every time Edward and I touched.

Edward: I had no idea what our relationship was anymore. I had known shortly after we started 'dating' that I was falling for him. But the more we spent time together, the more certain I was that my feelings for him were more then just a schoolgirl's crush. I was being to think I was in love with him, and I knew that could not be good.

The night when he was putting up curtains for me and he became so angry and upset, the instinct I felt to ease him and comfort him was down right scary. It had even driven me to kiss him. Yes, only on the cheek, but I had never felt the need to kiss a man before.

I had told Charlie about the paper Edward and I had to do for Bio and that we would be hanging out together to write it over the week the next morning. To my surprise, Charlie told me the Cullens seemed like good friends: no warning of 'don't get to close to them, they might find you that you're _different'_.

I went over to the Cullen's house after school that day and Edward and I completed the paper in only a half hour, it was that easy. We had been given a week by Mr. Banner. When we were done, I still had about two hours left before I had to get home and cook dinner for Charlie, so Edward played some of his own compositions for me on the grand piano I had seen before. Before he began play the piece, he told me it had been inspired by Esme and Carlisle's love for one and other. It was the most touching piece of music I had ever heard, and I was moved to tears.

After that Edward played another of his compositions for me but they were more light-hearted. As I watched his hand move over the keys of the piano, my body began heating up and my abdomen began to tighten. I started picturing Edward's long fingers running up and down my body, and felt an unfamiliar wetness in my panties. Understanding hit me that this unfamiliar feeling I had been having was lust. Uh-oh.

Wednesday I went to Forks' library to see if I could look anything up about my aunt Nicky. Forks is a small town, so I figured that the local paper must have something about her in one of its old releases. Edward had offered to come along with me, but I declined, although a big part of me wanted nothing more then to accept his offer, but I felt this was something I had to do on my own.

To say I was shocked when I got the library would be an understatement. It was small, poorly stocked, and there was only one librarian in the place. The librarian was an older woman, probably in her late sixties.

When I asked her about looking through same old local papers, she let out a tired sigh before telling me they did indeed have all the local papers form both Forks and Port Angeles, but seeing as the library was under-funded and 'no one these days ever wanted to volunteer', the papers were all messed up and not on microfilm.

She led me into the back room that housed all the old papers and with just a quick look, I knew that it would take me days if not weeks to find anything, even from the time she was alive. Seeing as I could tell this was going to take some time, I offered to volunteer on Wednesdays after school and Saturday mornings to help sort out the mess the papers were in and put them onto microfilm, seeing as I would be there anyway looking for information about my aunt.

At hearing this the librarian, Ann, she said her name was, was transformed. Her face positively lit up with joy. She explained what I would need to do, and I sat right down and started working. I stayed for two hours that day and separated out all the Forks local papers from the Port Angeles Press. However, to my disappointment, I did not come across anything about my aunt by the time I that to head home to make dinner for Charlie and myself.

Thursday at school I told Edward about going to the library, my disappointment at not finding anything, and that I would be volunteering there. Again he offered to help me in my search, but again I declined, explaining how I felt I needed to do this for myself. He invited me over to his house just to hang out, but to our mutual (I hoped) displeasure, I had to decline, explaining that I had told my friend Jake I would go down to La Push to see him.

When I mentioned La Push, something interesting happened to Edward's face: first it showed absolutely nothing, then confusion, then alarm, and then it went back to pleasant, if impersonal interest. All this happened in the course of about a second and a half, so it was entirely possibly I was extrapolating more than was there. I went on to tell him everything Jake had told me about my aunt, and Edward seemed confused about it for same reason as I was, but when I asked, he just said no one had gossiped about it when I first came and it just seemed like it was something people would do. That hadn't occurred to me, but it was a good point.

I want down to La Push after school to see Jake. I said my hellos to Billy, and then Jack showed me his garage. It was just two metal sheds put side by side with the connecting walls removed, but it was nice all the same. It smelled pretty bad, but that went with the territory of automobiles, I guessed.

He asked about Tyler, and I told him that the curtains were doing their job, leaving out the part where Edward somehow scared him off a few nights ago. I did, however, tell him about Alice telling Tyler that I was 'dating' her brother and that he and I had been telling everyone that it was true. Again, leaving out the part where I found myself falling in love with said brother.

We ended up talking mostly about his troubles down on the rezz. It seemed that some guy named Sam had recently formed a gang and there were looking at Jake funny, like they expected him to join up or something.

He told me the strangest part of it all was that the elders were taking everything this Sam guy did without complaint. So when Jake went to his dad with his concerns, he had been brushed off and told that if he did not understand soon, someday he would explain it to him. Like it was same kind of right of passage.

When I eventually had to head home, Jake was foremost in my thoughts: he was obviously a very good kid, but bad things happened if you fell in with the wrong crowd. I hoped that wouldn't happen to him.

Friday turned out to be a nice, quiet day. After school, Edward and Alice came over and just hung out at my house. We talked about school and how my trip to La Push went. Both Edward and Alice seemed somewhat tense when they asked me about it, but for the life of me I could not understand way.

Edward seemed strangely jealous as I told them about Jake, but he calmed down some when I told them he was like a younger brother to me. This seemed to amuse Alice to no end, but I was secretly very happy. The fact that he didn't want me hanging out with other guys meant that he must like me at least a little, right? They told me they had plans to go camping over the weekend, but if I needed anything or if Tyler tried anything to just give them a call. Their cells would be working; they were only going to a near-by camp-site. With that, Alice dragged Edward out with her as they left to head home. He did not seem to want to go, and truth be told, I hated it myself.

On Saturday I want back to the library at nine am to volunteer and try and find anything about my aunt. I was separating the papers into their years of publication this time.

It was about one when I found something about my aunt and mother. It was practically useless though: it was only their birth announcement. The article was deemed front-page news here in Forks. From what I read, it seemed that they were the first twins born here in Forks in almost fifty years. Quite the dubious distinction, I'd say.

As I read the article, I found it was not just my aunt I knew nothing about, but also my grandparents. Mom never talked about her parents, and I'd never thought to ask. They had my mother and aunt later in life, my grandmother giving birth to them in her forties. The article had a picture of my grandmother and grandfather holding my mother and aunt at the hospital, beaming from ear to ear. It may not have been much, but at least I knew I was on the right track in finding out a little about her.

Sunday was mostly spent cleaning the house and getting my homework done. Well, my homework only took twenty minutes or so, but I still got it done. I spent most of the day wishing I was with Edward, but he had told me he and his family were going camping, so that was that. It ended up seeming like a very long weekend, and I ended up missing him anyway, camping trip or no.

I looked over at the clock and to see I was running a bit early for school. It had only taken me fifteen minutes to get ready, even though I'd let my mind wander. I decided to leave for school a little early. Two days without Edward had gotten to me, and I was anxious to see him again. I peaked out the window, noting with horror that the whole of the outside world was blanketed with ice and snow. It must have happened last night, after I'd gone to bed.

I tried very hard not to trip on my way down the driveway, but I did anyway. Twice.

I should have taken that for the omen it was.

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**A/note**

It will take me some time to get the next chapter out because three days after I come home from Ireland my Buss asked me if I would like to take over part of her Biasness.

You see I run a small animal rescue and pet supply store in northern CA. she never intended to have a pet supply store a long with the rescue so she wants to move the rescue and asked me to take over the store. So know I have to write up a biasness plan and try to get some biasness loan and grants. I will be trying to at lest sit little time a side to write Night of twilight but I have no idea how long it will take me to get the next chapter out but **I will not stop writing it.**

_Please send good thoughts my way. _


	17. Chapter 17 handprint

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own.

* * *

Chapter 17 hand-print

Bella's POV:

I decreased my already slow speed as I looked out the wind-shield at the treacherous black ice that seem to be covering a great deal of the main street. _'I knew I should have stayed in bed.'_

I had always been a good driver; my eyesight picked up every detail for miles around. But I had never driven in snow with the roads covered in ice before, so I had no idea how difficult it would be. My truck seemed to have no problems with slipping on the icy roads as I made my way to school, thankfully. Perhaps today would not be as bad, as I had feared.

As I pulled into the student parking lot, I noticed that Edward's Volvo was already there. The space next to it had already been claimed; so I pulled into an empty spot about four cars down. As I did so, I could hear Edward's car door opening and him along with his bothers and sisters stepping out.

I hastily and eagerly grabbed my bag and jumped out of my truck blissful over the see them. As soon as my feet made contact with the asphalt though, one of my dizzy spells hit me and I grabbed onto the bed of the truck to stay upright as I waited for it to pass.

I was still in the grips of the spell when I heard Tyler's van pull into the lot, followed by a high pitched squealing sound, which did nothing for my spinning head. Fighting light-headed-ness, I looked up to see Edward staring at me with a look of terror. His face was not the only one: all of the Cullen's faces along with ever other student still in the parking lot face was frozen in a look of shock as they looked on at what was the thing making sound: Tyler's van.

Tyler's van was skidding wildly, tires locked up against the brakes. But more alarming than that was that the van was spinning across the ice straight towards the corner of the bed of my truck. The corner I was still holding onto waiting for my dizzy spell to subside. There was no time to do anything but watch as Tyler's van came at me.

"No, _not_ _her!_" I heard Edward's voice rang out; just as I heard his feet moving impossibly fast towards me. Just before I heard the crunch of the van hitting my truck, I felt Edward at my side, knocking me to the ground. My head hit against the icy blacktop as Edward's solid, cold body pinned me to the ground behind the car I'd parked next to.

But it would seem the van was still after me. It was still coming at us, curling gratingly around the end of my truck and, still spinning and sliding, was trying to collide with us again.

"Are you fucking kidding me," Edward's frustrated voice hissed as his pale hand shot out towards it. I shot my own hand out, trying to protect him as he was protecting me.

I shut my eyes at the last second before the van hit, anticipating short moments of searing pain before our deaths, but all that happened was a startling jolt of impact up my arm and a painful _groaning metallic thud!_ Sort of noise.

My eyes slowly open as the van teetered from its right to left tires, and the van settled, glass popping onto the asphalt and _exactly_ where our hands had shot out, were matching hand-print dents. One of Edward's hand and one of mine. _But how?_

For one long second everything was silent, but everything in my mind was screaming at me, _How, how, how! _Before I could try to understand how we were both still alive and not two mangled bodies, the screaming began.

I could hear different people shouting my name, and somewhere in the mayhem, Alice was taking out her cell phone. I didn't register what she was saying though, because Edward's low, frantic voice was right in my ear.

"Bella? Are you all right? Let me see your hand."

"Edward… our hands… they…they left hand-prints in the side of the van…." I stuttered, still in shock but unable to calm myself.

Edward gently but firmly took my arm and looked over my hand. There were purple bruises covering my palm, though there was barely any pain. I gaped: I had never once in my life had a bruise before.

Edward ran his fingers over all the bones in my hand and then my wrist and arm before looking over my hand again. Only seconds had passed, but the purple bruises were now all but gone. We watched silently as they vanished.

"Edward, are _you_ ok? Let me see your hand." I demanded, worried that he maybe hiding injures from me.

"Trust me Bella, I'm fine. What about your head? You hit it when I… when I pushed you out of the way." He had brushed off my concern, dismissive of his own injures, like it was impossible for him to get injured. But he was frantic when asking about my head.

"I'm fine Edward. Now let me see your hand," I demanded again. My concern was not likely to ease up until I knew he was completely safe.

"Fine," he huffed out as he held out his hand for me to look over. It was fine, but I still took the time to look it over just as carefully as he had looked over mine.

"Let me look at your head, please." His voice pleaded with me to give in.

"Oh, alright… but I'm telling you now that it's fine: I have a thick skull." He ran his hands through my hair and over my scalp. I closed my eyes as a feeling of bliss and longing ran through me. My chest vibrated with a purr. _Oh, my, I'm purring._

Edward's chest vibrated along with my small sound and I could hear him purring along with me. His added vibrations increased the longing already over-takeing me, and I let out a small moan.

One of Edward's hands stopped and sidled down to the back of my neck, his other wrapping around my waist. His breath fanning across my cheeks, telling me that his face was drawing in closer to mine. My breath shortened.

"Bella, Edward can you hear me? Can you tell me if you're injured?" Carlisle's concerned voices rang out; bring us back to what was going on.

I took a deep breath as Edward let go of the back of my neck. If Carlisle had not shown up, would Edward have kissed me just then? And if… could that mean he had feeling for me as well?

"Carlisle?" Edward asked with evident confusion.

"Alice called me," Carlisle whispered for only Edward and I to hear.

"Both Bella and I are uninjured, only trapped," Edward shouted. I couldn't help wondering why though: Carlisle could hear just as well as us.

"Carlisle, you have to clear us here at the scene. I don't think it would be wises for Bella or myself to be looked over at the hospital," _now_ Edward was whispering.

"That's way I'm here, son," Carlisle reassured him. No, it was true we absolutely _could not _be looked over at the hospital. That particular turn of phrase made something in the back of my brain give a sudden twist, and jump lose: I was suddenly enveloped in a memory from when I was a child.

_I am sitting in the living room of my mother's and my one bedroom apartment in California. My mother turned on the TV. She always has to have something on when she is studying or doing her homework for her college classes. _

_ Like always I did not look up from my book. Being too used to it at this point, though I hate the background noise when reading. _

_ As always I was trying to block out the sound of the TV and my mother as she high-lighted things as she reads, when an ad about the Oakland Children's Hospital begins airing, asking people to donate money to help fund research for sick children. The ad goes on about how it is the leading hospital for helping children with rare diseases, and ends by listing a couple of phone numbers. _

_ Can they help? Help someone like me? I'm already too aware that the way I'm maturing isn't like other children. Is the reason I was growing up the way I am some kind of rare diseases?_

_ "Mom," I called out, before realizing that I have no idea how to go about asking her if we should go._

_ "Yes, baby?" she asks, not even looking up from her studies. _

_ "Mom, do I have some kind of disease like that ad was talking about?" If I do have some kind of disease, then maybe there is hope for me. I have heard my mother talking to my father on the phone when they think I'm sleeping. Both voicing their fears that I might not live for long. _

_ "What ad, Bella? And no, you don't have a disease; you're fine." She doesn't look up from her book and is able to keep her voice even. Her body betrayed her, however, as she tensed up._

_ "Mom, maybe this Children's Hospital could help me. Other kids don't grow like me and my senses are for more advanced than anyone else's. Don't – " _

_ "Stop it, Bella," my mother cut me off as she got up from the kitchen table and made her way over to sit with me on the couch. "Honey,_ _I don't think it would be wise_ _for you to even go to a hospital or be seen by a doctor." My mother takes two big breaths and closes her eyes. "Sweetheart, you don't have a disease like the kids that are seen at the hospital. You're…you're Bella, but being you, it would be dangerous to even be examined by a doctor, let alone go to a hospital. They would not understand you and that could lead to them hurting you." My mother closes her eyes again as shiver runs down her spine. "Isabella, please promise me you will never go to a hospital, ok?"_

No I could not go to a hospital and I could not let Carlisle examine me ether, no matter how much I had come to trust the Cullens. I could feel myself grown frantic at just the thought.

I looked over at Edward, trying to find a way to tell him that there was no way I could let any doctor examine me. He was not looking at me, his eyes instead fixed to our hand-prints in the metal of the van, a look of extreme concentration in his eyes.

I reached out and touched him on his shoulder as I called out to hem,

"Edward?"

"I'll take care of the any evidence left on the van when they begin moving it out of the way to get Bella and my self out," Edward said, but it seemed like he was not talking to me as he said this.

"It would not be good if people started asking how there is hand-print-like dents in the side of the van. Yes, that would be a fun one to explain away." Edward looked over at me then and his golden eyes expressing surprise that I had responded to what he had said.

"Oh, sorry love, Carlisle and I were just going over what needs to be done so people don't ask questions about how we made it out unscathed." Well, that just confused the hell out of me. I hadn't heard Carlisle ask about any evidence that may have been left, let alone evidence pertaining to the question of how we hadn't lost our lives.

So it would seem Carlisle was here to help us cover up the fact we had survived because we were so different. Knowing this made me wonder if they were maybe the only people I could trust. Would he simply say everything was normal with Edward and I and keep us from going to the hospital? That was almost too much to hope for.

"Edward, I can't be seen by a doctor." Simply talking about going and seeing a doctor was making me feel more panicky.

Edward most have seen and heard how upset I was becoming. He pulled me into his arms and ran a comforting hand up and down my back.

"Love, please, _trust us_. This is why Carlisle's here. After they move the van, he'll look us over and say there's no need for us to go to the hospital. He will tell us to take the rest of the day off just because it was a traumatic event, and we should take it easy for a while. He knows that nether of us should be seen by the doctors at the hospital." Edward's words along with what my mother had always told me were now battling inside of me. Who should I believe?

Edward was saying to trust him and Carlisle, that no one would find out I was different, that he would keep us safe. His words along with my mother's warning about doctors was warring for me to listen to them and do as they say. _What the hell was I going to do_?

Neither Edward nor I said anything after that. He pulled me up against his side and his arms wrapped around my back with his hand resting on my elbow. I leaned my head onto his shoulder as we waited for help to arrive.

It did not take that long for the ambulance show up and get Tyler out of the van and load him into the back. The EMT's stayed to help move the van away. Just as the van was being moved, Edward let go of me for a second and smoothed out the dents in the van with the palm of his left hand. It took two EMT's, three of the schoolteachers, and Carlisle to shift the van far enough to get to us. I had to wonder if Edward and I could have moved it away our selves, but knew that it would not look good if we had.

As soon as the van was moved, Carlisle and the two EMT's rushed through the gap between Tyler's blue van and my beloved red tank. As the men rushed through, Edward pulled me against him and he stood. Edward holding me closes to his side with his arm around me made me shiver pleasantly.

"We're fine, Dad, nothing hit us." Carlisle raised his eyebrows at Edward's smooth voice. "Okay, so maybe our nerves are fried from seeing a van came at us like that," Edward said, while letting out a long breathe. In that moment, Edward and Carlisle seemed like two very good actors putting on a show to me and the hovering EMT's, leaving me wondering if they had to put on a show for people all the time.

"Brett, I'll look over my son and Bella here. You head in with the young man that was in the van," Carlisle said to one of the EMT's.

"I'll come right back for them, Dr. Cullen," The EMT named Brett said.

"There's no need. They said nothing hit them and I can look them over here. If they need more medical attention, than I can provide here, then I'll bring them to the hospital myself. The roads are bad and we only have you and one other ambulance here, so it would to wise to have both of you at the ready if anything else were to happen. Once I look them over I will head back: it looks like the ER could use my help today."

Brett nodded at Carlisle's logic, showing his respect in Carlisle's judgment.

"See you soon, Doc. I think you're right; the roads are bad. I know the hospital will be happy you're heading in." Brett said as he squeezed back out between the van and my truck.

"Bella, why don't you sit here on the tale-gate of your truck and let me look you over first," Carlisle suggested as he pulled the tale-gate of my truck down.

As I eased up onto the cold metal, I discovered that everyone in the school was still standing in the parking lot, watching. I know I would have to comply: it would look too strange not to. I would just have to trust that he was in fact here to help cover everything up, and this was just another part of the act he and Edward had put on earlier.

Carlisle first asked if I hurt any were. I told him no. Then he shone a light in both my eyes. I could see right through it, but it did bother them a little. Just as Carlisle was taking my pulse, my dad pulled into the parking lot in the cruiser. I knew before he was even out of the car that he was going to freak out.

"Bella!" he shouted as he rushed out of his cruiser, his face showing just how panicked he was at having a doctor within a ten foot radius of me.

"Bella, what happened?" He demanded as he came to a standstill next me my truck. As much as I wanted to tell him everything, I knew some of it was not my secret to tell.

"I'm fine, Dad. Umm… when I got out of my truck, I umm…slipped… on some of the ice, so Edward came over to help me when Tyler's van came skidding wildly on the ice and came right at us. Edward grabbed me and pulled us both out of the way… nothing...umm…_hit us_, but the EMT's **wanted **to take us in to the hospital, but Carlisle said he just look us over here." I hoped that last part would ease some of my father's fairs. It had to be at least a little better to have Carlisle look me over here than go to the hospital, right?

"Yes, I would say that Bella is just fine. Her heart rate is a bit high, but that's normal after having such an enormous adrenalin rush. I think it would be a good idea for Bella to take the day off from school. Just to help calm her nerves, Chief Swan, you understand." I got up from the tale-gate of my truck and thanked Carlisle as he called Edward over to examine him.

Charlie had never been good at expressing his emotions, which was a trait I had inherited. It was even hard at times to see the emotions in his eyes and face, but right now, I could tell exactly what he was feeling.

As I looked into my father's face, I could see relief, shock and confusion in his brown eyes. He had yet to say anything after what both Carlisle and I had said to him. The entire time Carlisle looked Edward over, he just stood there, stunned.

"Ok Edward, you look good to but I'm going to take you home before I go into the hospital. You should leave your keys with Rose," Carlisle had told Edward, and as he said it, my father's eyes suddenly filled with gratitude.

"Edward, thank you so much for saving my baby girl," my father's voice was filled with emotion. I had never once heard my father's voice like that before.

"Chief Swan, there's no need to thank me. It would have killed me if something were to happen to her." Edward's voices held so much sincerity and… something else; I just couldn't put my finger on what it was.

"Call my Charlie, Edward," my father said, his emotions finally dropping down so it was hard to read them again. However, I knew, even without his emotions showing, by telling Edward to call him 'Charlie', he had a newfound respect for Edward.

"Charlie, if you like, Bella can stay at our home today with Edward and Esme if you have to go back to work," Carlisle offered, and I couldn't help but hope my father would take him up on the offer.

"Oh, thanks Carlisle, but I'm going to try and stay home with her today. Is there anything I should be looking out for?" I was disappointed that I could not spend more time with Edward, and not looking forward to Charlie trying to be attentive. However, there was something I did need to tell my dad, and I had no idea how to go about it.

"Well, feel free to bring her over if you're called in. You may end up with a concerned Esme and Edward on your door steep, just as a forewarning. Even after I tell her she was just fine," Carlisle said with a laugh and a smile.

"I'll keep a look-out for her. Thanks for looking out for her Carlisle, Edward." My father said as he put his hand on my back to steer me to his police cruiser.

"Thanks… Bye," I said to both Edward and Carlisle. "Edward, I'll see you tomorrow, I guess?" I was surprised how my voice sounded more like a question.

"Yes. Well, if not sooner." He chuckled. "When Mom finds out what happened, she'll probably be rushing us both over to see you," Edward said and I hoped he was right. Oh, God, how I hoped. Two days without being near him had taken their toll on me. But even though I knew it was unhealthy to be so obsessed, right then, I did not seem to care.

Once Charlie and I were back home, he told me he would have my truck towed back and then have Jake swing by and look it over for me. I knew I would need to tell him about the hand-print I had left on the van. I also know I would have to be very careful about how I told him because I could not tell him about Edward's hand print. For one, it was not my place, and two, it was Edward's secret to tell: not mine.

I sat with my dad in the kitchen as he ate and I picket at the sandwiches I made us for lunch.

"Dad, there's something I have to tell you," I said wearily

"What is it, Bells?" he asked, putting down the sandwich.

"Dad, the van – it was going to hit Edward and me, but I shot my hand out at it and…. Well, it… it made contact with me, and my hand… I left a hand-print in the side of the van, and that made some bruises on my palm, but the bruises disappeared not even two seconds after they showed up." There. I had told him. Hey, Dad, I'm even more different then we thought.

"Did Edward see?" my dad rushed to ask. I didn't know if I should lie, which I suck at, or tell him the truth, which could end in disaster. I decided on the truth:

"Yes, but he won't tell anyone, Dad. I promise."

"Bella…"

"No, really. You know the Cullens, Dad: they're good people and different. They like me in same ways. If we have to worry about people telling, we at least shouldn't be concerned that it'll be them. Please believe me. I trust them."

"Well… alright. I'm going to trust your judgment here, Bells. They are strange, but Dr. Cullen is a good man, and Edward saved your life earlier."

"Thank you," I whispered, relieved beyond words.

"Maybe you can even learn a few things from them, huh?" he said with false joviality, trying to make light of the situation. "Are you feeling okay there, Bells? Cause if you are, there's a game on…"

I chuckled. "Yeah, sure, I'm fine. Go for it, Dad."

I sighed as he shuffled from the room. As glad as I was that my admission hadn't ended in disaster, there were still many things that needed explaining. Dad had said it himself, the Cullens were strange. 'Almost as strange as me,' I reflected somewhat, it seemed to me that they knew why they are different. I envy that. As I wondered what it is that made me different and if I would ever know.

I had to admit I wish they would tell me way they are different. I would tell them way I was, if I know way that is. I hoped they know just how lucky they are to have each other. I wished I had family like that but I was all-along in my differentes.

I wanted what they had. I wanted that 'family' feeling.

* * *

Hello every one, sorry it took this long to update.

I told all of you about the store thing, I was trying to do and after three week's try and move forward with it, it all fall apart in the end. I would like to explain it all but that would end up being longer then the chapter. I'm hoping I can get the next chapter out to you all next week if not then it will be three week's.

Thank you all for your reviews I love all of them so thank you thank you thank you.

Amberfire1


	18. Chapter 18 Fragile

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own.

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I would like to think everyone how has reviewed my story it mean a lot to me to hear what you think good or bad.

**Thank you!**

**________________________________________________________________________________________________  
**

Sorry this chapter took so long to get out it ended up being a lot longer then I had intended it to be.

The next chapter is called visitor and is an important chapter so I wont it to be just right so it could take some time to get out. It will be a longer chapter and will have 3 different POV in it. In three different visits.

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Chapter 18. Fragile

Edward: POV.

_In only a few short minutes I would be with my Bella,_ one part of my brain chanted, as the other reminded me over and over that she was angel and I, a monster. I am not what an angel such as she deserved in her life, but being the selfish fiend I was, I could not bring myself to stay away from her.

_She is my mate and Jasper has told me more than once that she feels the same for me as I for her,_ the part of my mind that could not let her go added. Yes, she was my mate, and as such, I should want what is best for her, and that is not I. I could never be worthy of the angel, Bella is. We could never have a real relationship, even with her being 'different'; she is still a fragile human.

_But she's lonely. She can't be herself with the other humans, where as she can with you and your family_. Yes, in the time I had been spending with her, it had became increasingly clear just how alone she felt in her life and how independent that had made her. Just the thought of her loneliness made my longing to be with her that much stronger.

The more we tried too understand what could have caused my beautiful Bella's abnormalities, she ended up becoming more and more of an enigma to us. After the amazing time we had spent in each others company at my home, Carlisle would try and find a stray hair or skin cell that humans shed through-out the day to run tests on, but like us, it became clear she did not shed any, leaving him with nothing to test. This had frustrated him to no end.

"Edward," Jasper growled out my name_ "Get control over your emotions: you're driving me mad,"_ he added in his thoughts.

"Sorry," was all I could say. I did not try to offer him a reprieve from my emotional ups and downs because I knew it was impossibility. Having a fragile human mate alone was not enough to conflict me, but one that was an enigma as well, was making it impossible to rein in my emotions.

At Jasper's growl, Alice focused all her affection and attention on him to help him deal with my ups and downs. Emmet and Rose did not bother to stop their discussion on what adjustments they would be making on Emmett's Jeep, having heard Jasper and I do this over and over in the last week.

I tried to gain control of my emotions as the others went on with their discussions until all of our thoughts focused on the thunderous chugging of Bella's truck's engine in the distance. I was not alone in missing her.

My family's feelings for Bella were something I had been pondering for some time. They were all exceedingly protective of her. Both Esme and Rose viewed Bella more like their own daughter rather than my mate. Esme seeing her, this way did not surprised me in the least: she was a mother at heart, and would love any woman if I loved them.

Rose took my by completely surprise on the other hand. She hated what she was because it took away her ability to have a baby of her own. While she loved being looked at and seen as beautiful, she hated having humans too close, and she was secretly jealous of them for being able to reproduce. She had assumed she had bonded with Bella because of their connection of the fear they shared, and her desire for no other woman to feel that fear, but as time went on, she was beginning to realize that it was more than that. It was causing her emotions and thoughts to be almost as complicated as my own, yet unlike me; she had other things to also occupy her mind, so she was not always focusing on it.

Jasper, Emmet, and Alice all loved her as a sister. Emmet took in every stray he could find, so that was no surprise. He loved Bella as a sister and felt protective of her and resolved that he would let no one and nothing ever harm her. He simply accepted his feelings and so felt no need to examine them.

Alice was a lot like Emmet, but was frustrated over her strange none-vision visions of Bella. Whenever she would have one of these visions, she would always complain about her 'new sister' being so difficult. This was also the same complaint she had over Bella's unwillingness to let Alice redo her wardrobe. However, she was happy over the fact that out of all my siblings, she was the closest to Bella and that Bella had called her, her best friend.

Jasper was more like Rose and myself: he was confused over his reaction to Bella. Living through the Southern Vampire Wars, he had a healthy respect of the roles of our kind, having seen first-hand what the rulers of our kind could do if the laws were broken. He was also the newest to our diet and would still struggle with it from time to time, so it had surprised him greatly that he could be near her and have no reaction to her blood.

Having her so close made him edgy, anxious that she would learn of what we are. But being empathies, he could not deny his feelings. He loved her like a sister from the fist time he put his hand on her shoulder. The thought of her not being with us saddened him.

When my siblings had fist told Carlisle about Bella during my absence, she had piqued his interest in the unknown. After learning she was my mate, he became more concerned for me. Then after meeting her for only a short time, his concern for me became concern for his 'new daughter', though being immersed in trying to solve the puzzle that was Bella meant he had yet to understand he was seeing her as one of his children.

Another car pulled into the spot next to my Volvo as we parked, making all of our angers spike: that spot had been for my Bella. Everyone in the school knew not to park next to my car, that it was reserved for her. However, the thoughts of the girl who had parked there showed that she hadn't even registered the fact that she had parked next to me. She was just happy to be off the iced roads.

The thunderous chugging of Bella's truck's engine was finally in the lot and she pulled into spot four cars down from us. Knowing I would soon have her warm hand in mine filled me with bliss. Just as she climbed out of her truck, which both Rose and I wished desperately to replace, we stepped out of the Volvo. Alice squealed in her mind when she saw that Bella was wearing one of the outfits she had bought for her. Bella did looked stunning in black form-fitting sweater and hip-hugging blue jeans. I would have to thank Alice later.

"_You're welcome, but I just wanted to buy my sister some clothes. They weren't for you, per se,"_ Alice thought after having a quick vision of me thanking her.

I watched Bella as she made her way to us. She seemed to be unsteady, dizzy, almost. Just as she reached the back of her truck, it looked as if her footing was giving out and she grabbed the edge of her truck to right herself. To human eyes, it would look like she was just clumsy, but her eyes would always go slightly unfocused whenever she would have a clumsy moment.

When I had explained this to Carlisle, he had theorized that perhaps her human mind was having difficulty taking in everything her advanced senses were dumping on it, resulting in her brain became over-loaded and making her dizzy.

I was about to go over to her and offer her a hand when a vision swung full-force into Alice's mind, making me stop and give it my full attention. When one of her visions came on without her asking, it always meant it was important.

_Tyler Crowley had chosen to take the turn into the parking lot at an injudicious speed, hoping to see Bella before we arrived, the injudicious speed sending him skidding across a patch of ice to go heading right for the back of Bella's truck. _Where we knew she was standing. It was going to hit her. She was going to die. Alice may not have seen Bella, but we both knew she was there.

Alice gasped as the vision ended only half a second before the reality set in. Tyler's van rounded the corner as I was still experiencing the vision with Alice. Even without seeing her vision, the others could tell what we were seeing. It was simple enough to read the trajectory of the now out-of-control van.

Bella looked up, her eyes still unfocused at the sound of screeching tires. She looked straight into my horror-stricken eyes and then at my siblings before turning and stare at the fast-approaching van.

"No, not her!" I may have been the only one who said it out loud, but Alice, Jasper, Emmet and Rose were all screaming it in their minds.

My body reacted before my mind had made the choice as I launched myself across the lot faster then even I knew I could run. No human could have followed my flight to her to throw myself between Tyler's van and my fragile, beautiful Bella.

I grabbed her urgently around the waist, too urgently to be as gentle as she needed me to be with her delicate body. I heard her head smack against the ice when I threw us to the ground_. Please make that not have been as bad as it sounded. _

The van did not stop though: it came at us again, swinging gratingly around the end of her truck, sliding and spinning and trying to collide with us again.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I hissed out. I had never spoken like that in the presence of a lady before, but desperate times, as they say... I shot my hand out at the van to stop it from hitting us, protecting my Bella from harm. It was more than an instinct: it was a need.

The van did not even have faction of a second before it would make contact with my hand, when to my horror, Bella shot out her own hand to face the van beside mine. I had no time to stop what I knew was about to happen: the van would hit her hand and break not just her hand, but the shock would break her whole arm and possibly her shoulder too.

It felt like physical pain when I felt the van's impact on the palm of my hand, knowing it would break my love's hand and arm. I knew that I should be hearing her screams of pain any second now, yet no screams were heard_. She must have passed out from the pain. _My still heart broke, knowing I had failed at keeping her from harm.

As much as I wanted to look away from the van to check on Bella, I had to watch the van to make absolutely sure it was done coming at us. My eyes locked on the side of the van as it teetered from its right to left tires. Wait… there was something… something that just could not be there, there was just no way, what I was seeing could be true.

Right next the handprint-shaped dent I had known my hand would leave was another hand-print. A hand-print of a smaller hand, my Bella's hand. Her hand should not have left a perfect handprint dent in the van like mine had. What I was seeing just could not be. Seeing it reminded me that the most urgent thing was taking care of her. She had broken her arm, she must have.

I looked down at Bella franticly, hoping she was not to badly hurt, knowing she would be.

"Bella? Are you all right?" Okay, I already knew the answer to that: no. No she was not all right. It was a stupid question. "Let me see your hand." I was panicking. I had to help her, but how was I going to do that with out Carlisle's help?

As gently as I could, I firmly took hold of her arm to examine it. I had helped Carlisle with patients before, and I did hold two medical degrees. I just hoped all that would be able to help me now, when I really needed them.

As I pulled her arm towards me, it became immediately evident that her arm and shoulder had no breaks what so ever, and she did not seem to be in any pain. I slowly and gently turned her hand over so I could look at the palm of her hand.

Bella gasped as we looked on at the vivid purple bruises covering her palm, and the sight of them made me loath myself even more for not getting to her faster and allowing her to be hurt.

After seeing the bruises, I went on with my examination of her hand and arm. I ran my fingers over every one of the bones in her hand, wrist and arm. To my relief and astonishment, she had no broken bones. '_It would seem my Bella was not as fragile as we've assumed...'_

Suddenly becoming aware of our close proximity, desire rapidity took hold of my body, my manhood becoming painfully hard at the mere possibility of being able to touch her in more intimate ways, without the fear of hurting her. I was disgusted at myself for where my mind and body had just gone; I was a gentleman not a hormonal teenage boy!

_Focus, Edward! Get your mind out of the gutter!_ My Bella was hurt I need to attend to her, not become wrapped up in desire. I turned her hand so her palm was facing up once more.

I was met yet again with overwhelming shock. It had only been seconds and the purple bruises that had covered her palm were almost completely healed. Gone. I was too shocked to do anything but watch as the bruises vanished completely. '_What is going on…? She's human: both her parents are human… but Bella, she's… an enigma with no hope of us solving.'_

I looked Bella in the eyes, about to ask the question we had all wanted to ask but were afraid to, because she might ask the same of us. _Why are you different?_ But before the words could come out of my mouth, she spoke.

"Edward, are you okay?" her voice was just as frantic as mine had been. I almost wanted to laugh at her question: no van coming at me could hurt me, but then I remembered she did not know this. "Let me see your hand," she franticly demanded of me, her concern for my safety written all over her face.

"Trust me Bella, I'm fine," I said brushing off her concern. After all, it was her we needed to worry about, not me. "What about your head? You hit it when I …. When I pushed you out of the way." Yes, there was still another injury I needed to look over. But seeing as her arm was fine, I had a feeling her head would be all right too.

"_I'm_ fine, Edward, now let me see your hand," she demanded stubbornly, concern pouring out of her eyes. I was _fine,_ why could she not just let it go? But I knew if I wanted to look at her head, I was going to have to let her see for herself I was fine. It would probably take less time than me arguing with her over it.

"Fine," I huffed out in annoyance at time wasted which we could have used to make sure she did not have a concussion, how ever doubtful that was, considering how fast she healed. I held my arm out to her so she could look it over.

She ran her small, hot fingers over every bone in my arm with what felt like a feather light touch. Sliding her fingers up my arm, I wondered if her sense of touch was as strong as her other senses. I wondered if I felt cold yet soft or hard as the stone I was. It did not take her long to see I was fine and release my arm.

"Let me look at your head," I asked again, and she shot me a look saying drop it. I was going to have to resort to the Alice pout. She was exactly as susceptible as I was to Alice pouts. "Please," I pleaded, looking deep into her eyes again.

"Oh, alright," she said, giving in. "But –" _'But the hell what?'_ " – I'm telling you now that it's fine: I have a thick skull." Yes, I had to agree with that, but just because she was stubborn.

I moved closer to her and started to run my hands through her shiny, silky hair and over her scalp, feeling for any bumps. I kept my eye locked on hers to see if she winced in pain.

Her eyes darkened, the black in them over-taking the brown just before she closed them, her body relaxing into mine. I relaxed with her, knowing she was not hurt.

I did not stop running my hands through her hair though – it felt too good to stop. I could keep doing this forever, if she let me. Her scent slowly changed, a change I had smelled before. It was the smell of her arousal. The smell was like a drug to me, pulling me closer to her, wanting our bodies to be one. The desire was overriding the gentleman in me, who was still screaming about how wrong this was.

My mate, my Bella's body, vibrated with a purr. A part of my mind questioned this how she could be purring just like a vampire when she was human, however a larger part of my brain told me she was calling to me, letting me know she wanted me as much as I wanted her. My manhood hardened for the second time in less than five minutes.

Every part of me longed to be closer to her. My own chest vibrated with a purr as I slid one of my hands down from her head to the back of her neck, pulling my other hand free from her hair and wrapped it around her waist and easing her closer to me. Lowering my face closer to hers, the desire to kiss her, to feel her soft hot lips on mine, was too strong to resist even if I wanted to.

I could feel her shortened breath washing over my lips and cheeks as my own fanned over her face. I wanted to savor this moment, take it as slowly as I could. The world around us seemed to vanish as the need to feel a connection to her physically grew in me.

_"Edward…. Edward, son, we can hear you purring, and is Bella… umm… is Bella purring too? What's going on?"_

I could hear Carlisle pushing his thoughts out to me, but I could not stop my body.

"Bella, Edward can you hear me?" at the sound of Carlisle's voice, Bella's body tensed and her eyes began to open as I pulled my face away from hers. A larger part of me was fuming at the less-then good time my father seemed to have. "Can you tell me if you're injured?" he called. I pulled my hand out from the back of Bella's neck as she took a deep breath the smell of her arousal dispersed, letting me take in what was going on.

"Carlisle?" I called, lacing my voice with confusion for two reasons. One: I might be able to read his thoughts to know he came to help clean this mess up after Alice called him. Somehow I had missed that when I was focusing on Bella, and two: so the humans didn't know I already knew my father was there.

"Alice called me," Carlisle whispered for Bella's benefit, knowing I could already see this from his thoughts.

"Both Bella and I are uninjured, only trapped," I shouted out, so that any nearby human knew we were fine and not in need of medical help. Trapped, only because there were too many humans around for me to move the van myself without exposing what we were. I opened my mind up to listen to all the minds around us: three students had heard me say Bella and I were uninjured, and were now telling everyone around them.

"Carlisle, you have to clear us here at he scene. I don't think it would be wise for Bella or myself to be looked over at the hospital," I whispered to Carlisle, hoping the tension I was feeling got translated through my voice. Carlisle showed me he knew I was right, but he still whished he could use this as an excuse to run all the tests he could think of on her.

"That's way I'm here, son," Carlisle reassured us aloud, no hint of the curiosity-driven zeal in his voice. It was more for Bella again than myself. Bella's body suddenly stiffened next to me. I had yet to let go of her waist and I could feel her rigidity against my arm. I looked down at her, but she had a faraway look in her eyes. A part of me was dying to ask her what she was thinking, but I needed to help Carlisle clean this up.

I scanned through the thoughts of the surrounding humans but no one had noticed me materializing at Bella's side; they had all just assumed they must not have seen me sanding next to her. Alice, Jasper, Rose and Emmet were all on-edge, hoping this would not expose us to the humans, but they all supported what I had done. None of use could stand to let anything happen to her.

Emmet was already making plans for what he wanted to do to Tyler later on. It would seem the three of use would be paying him a visit at the hospital.

_'Edward,'_ Carlisle had my attention at once this time.

'_When I was on the phone with Alice, she said they heard Bella say 'our hands left dents in the van'. You'll need to do something about them before anyone sees.'_

Bella's hand touched me on the shoulder and she called my name. I wanted to give her my undivided attention, but I needed to tell Carlisle what I was going to do about the dents. He desperately wanted to know if she had somehow dented the van as well, but that was something we would have to discuss when Bella was not present. I had no idea if she would see me telling him about the dent as a betrayal. I hoped not.

"I'll take care of any evidence left on the van when they begin moving it out of the way to get Bella and my self out," I whispered to Carlisle, hoping Bella would not find it strange for me to be saying this.

"It would not be good if people started asking how there is hand-print-like dents in the side of the van. Yes, that would be a fun one to explain away." I looked over at Bella surprised that she would respond to what I had just said.

"Oh, sorry love, Carlisle and I were just going over what needs to be done so people don't ask questions about how we made it out unscathed." As a look of confusion creased her face, I realized I had just made a major slip. She had no idea I could read minds and Carlisle had not told me out loud that I needed to cover up the hand-prints.

"Edward, I can't be seen by a doctor." She sounded panicky all of a sudden. She looked so upset, and I had no idea were this was coming from. We were not going to let some doctor see her, it was just Carlisle, and he was going to tell everyone she was fine. Her temperature alone would mean she should be dying. No, no everyday doctor could see her, just like they would not see any of us.

I ran my right hand up and down her back soothingly, hoping to calm her down. She needed to trust us now more then ever.

"Love, please, _trust us_." I needed to somehow make her see that if she did not let Carlisle examine her, then they would insist on taking her to the hospital. "This is why Carlisle's here. After they move the van, he'll look us over and say there's no need for us to go to the hospital." She looked so conflicted… she must know seeing a doctor would only end badly for her. They would put her through all kinds of tests and report their findings. She would never be able to live her life if anyone found out how different she was. "He will tell us to take the rest of the day off just because it was a traumatic event, and we should take it easy for a while. He knows that nether of us should be seen by the doctors at the hospital."

I did not say anything after that as she let what I said sink in, hoping beyond hope that she would feel that she could trust us. She said nothing so I wrapped my arms around her, just enjoying having her close to me as we waited.

Once the van was being moved away from us and I smoothed out the dents of our hand-prints on the van, leaving nothing for the humans to see. Carlisle and two EMT's come through the gap they made between Bella truck and Tyler's van, I pulled Bella and myself to our feet to show that we were fine.

As soon as the EMT's could see us, I know it was time for Carlisle and I to play are human roles. I was his teen-age son and he was my father.

"We're fine, Dad, nothing hit us." Carlisle raised his eyebrows, saying _no don't say 'fine'_. "Okay, so maybe our nerves are fried from seeing a van came at us like that." Now that I had reassured the EMTs, Carlisle could jump in.

"Brett, I'll look over my son and Bella here. You head in with the young man that was in the van," Carlisle said, dismissing the medic. Brett's thoughts showed that he trusted Carlisle if he thought he could handle it, then he would take the van's driver in if he was told to, but that he was planning on coming right back for Bella and myself.

"I'll come right back for them, Dr. Cullen," The EMT named Brett said, thinking Carlisle would want to look us over at the hospital.

"There's no need. They said nothing hit them and I can look them over here. If they need more medical attention than I can provide here, then I'll bring them to the hospital myself. The roads are bad and we only have you and one other ambulance here, so it would to wise to have both of you at the ready if anything else were to happen. Once I look them over I will head back: it looks like the ER could use my help today." Brett could not agree more and he nodded to show his consent.

"See you soon, Doc. I think you're right; the roads are bad. I know the hospital will be happy you're heading in," Brett said as he took his leave, joining the other EMT. He was letting Brett take the lead, though he wondered if it was really ok not to come back for us. Luckily, he decided to let it go. After all, Carlisle was a respected doctor.

Carlisle pulled the tale-gate of Bella's truck down and asked her to sit on it, as he looked her over. She glanced nervously at all the other humans before sitting down on the tale-gate with a resigned yet wry look in her eyes.

Carlisle checked her pulse, which had not increased at all, even after going through such a traumatic event, he noted in his thoughts. I knew it would not change. Jasper had mentioned it was strange that her heart rate never increased or decreased with her emotions.

Bella's father pulled into the parking lot just as Carlisle was 'examining' Bella. His thoughts were on how 'teens' could never seem to drive carefully on the icy roods. Once he observed that the van in question had hit Bella's truck, his thoughts came to a full stop and he was worrying himself sick over his baby girl.

His eyes landed on Carlisle examining Bella and his thoughts turned frantic. '_Shit – shit – shit! A doctor can't see her; she's just too different. I have to get her out of here before Doctor Cullen says she needs to go to the hospital.'_

"Bella!" he shouted as he tumbled out of his cruiser, trying to get both her and Carlisle's attention. He was hoping Bella would get up and go over to him and to distract Carlisle from examining her.

"Bella, what happened?" he asked making his way to stand next to her. His only thought was of getting her as far as he could from the prying eyes of a doter.

"I'm fine, Dad. Umm… when I got out of my truck, I umm…slipped…" _'So she had one of her episodes,' _he thought_. _His mind showed me we were not the only ones who observed she was having some kind of incident.

"…on some of the ice, so Edward came over to help me when Tyler's van came skidding wildly on the ice and came right at us. Edward grabbed me and pulled us both out of the way" _'So Edward helped her… I'll have to find some way of thanking him,'_ Charlie's thoughts showed he was warming up to me. That was good at least.

"Nothing...umm…_hit us_, but the EMT's **wanted **to take us in to the hospital, but Carlisle said he just look us over here." At the mention of hospital, Charlie just about had a heart attack. _'Bella trusts the Cullens, Bella trusts them, Bella trusts them, Bella trusts them, GOD, I hope she's right about that, or I'll have to ship her off tonight.'_ His thought of sending her away killed him: he had missed her, and loved having her home with him. And I found myself making plans to follow her wherever she went, even though Charlie hadn't decided to send her away yet.

"Yes, I would say that Bella is just fine." _'"Just fine"?! Okay, so… either Doctor Cullen is a total quack, or… or he must be covering it up on purpose…' _Charlie's thoughts went over everything he knew about Carlisle's work and how respected he was at the hospital, and came to the conclusion that he had to be covering for her.

"Her heart rate is a bit high, but that's normal after having such an enormous adrenalin rush." As Charlie took in everything Carlisle was saying, his mind wandered to something that I had heard in his thoughts the first time Bella introduced Alice and I to him: we were different. He did not know why, and did not want to know why. He just wanted Bella safe. _'That's a relief for us, in any case.'_

"I think it would be a good idea for Bella to take the day off from school. Just to help calm her nerves, Chief Swan, you understand." Bella got up form the tale-gate of her truck and thanked Carlisle as he called me over for my 'examination'.

'_Edward, Chief Swan seemed very upset about Bella. Was it the accident, or having a doctor look her over?'_ I nodded my head three times to let Carlisle know it was both. Carlisle kept his mind quite for me after that so I could monitor what Bella's father was thinking.

Charlie's thoughts were a jumble. He was incredibly relieved that Bella was, for one, not harmed. He was relieved that she was unharmed, but was also relieved that he would not have to explain why he was not taking her to the hospital. And underneath all that, there was relief that he did not have to send her backs to Renee. In fact, he had no intentions of telling her at all.

He was shocked that Carlisle was lying about her being fine. No doctor, after having seen her, would use the word 'fine' to describe her, bringing him back to relief that it seemed he could trust us. Though he was confused as to why we would do this. Then slowly he began to think of seeking Carlisle out some other time and confided in him all he knew about Bella _'Could I trust Carlisle that much?'_ His thought kept asking. I could only hope he would end up with a yes to that question.

Carlisle had to keep up with our act of the humans, as he said I looked good and to give Rose my keys and he would bring me home. The humans would think it to strange for me to go to school after the van incident.

Charlie had heard Carlisle releasing me from my exam and one of the things Bella had said came back into his mind: I had pulled her out of the way of the van, she had told him. His mind filled with gratitude for me.

"Edward, thank you so much for saving my baby girl," Charlie said.

"Chief Swan, there's no need to thank me. It would have killed me if something were to happen to her." Well, it wouldn't have killed me, per se, but I would have find a way to follow after her if she had died. A world without Bella in it was a world I did not want to exist in.

"Call my Charlie, Edward." Charlie respected me! The father of the woman I love respected me! Euphoria bloomed.

"Charlie, if you like, Bella can stay at our home today with Edward and Esme if you have to go back to work," Carlisle offered knowing I was going to be put out over not seeing her for the remainder of the day. He was also hoping she'd tell us more about herself, now that we had show her she could trust us.

"Oh, thanks Carlisle, but I'm going to try and stay home with her today. Is there anything I should be looking out for?" Charlie said, having picked up on the act and was now trying to play along. I had known this was coming, but I was disappointed all the same, knowing it would not be until tomorrow that I could see Bella again. I looked over at her and was sad and happy to see the disappointment in her face as will. Happy because it seemed she would miss me too, but sad because she was disappointed.

"Well, feel free to bring her over if you're called in. You may end up with a concerned Esme and Edward on your doorstep, just as a forewarning. Even after I tell her she was just fine," Carlisle said with a laugh and a smile. He was trying to have some fun father-to-father banter with Bella's father.

"I'll keep a look-out for them. Thanks for looking out for her Carlisle, Edward." He was thanking us for more then just me pulling her out of the way of the van, and Carlisle examining her: he was thanking us for keeping her safe form what could have happened if she had been forced to go to the hospital.

Charlie put his hand on Bella's back to steer her to his police cruiser. He wanted her away form the prying eyes of the other people in the lot, however he did not seem to include us in his thought. No, we had proven to him that we were trustworthy.

Bella looked back towards Carlisle and I with a look of longing.

"Thanks… Bye, Edward, I'll see you tomorrow, I guess?" she sounded resigned and sad. Her voice sounded more like a question though. Did she want me to come by tonight? God knows I wanted that. Did she think I would run off after what happened? How I wished I could hear into her mind!

"Yes. Well, if not sooner," I chuckled. "When Mom finds out what happened, she'll probably be rushing us both over to see you." She smiled then. Yes, she wanted to see me, just as I wanted to see her. Charlie helped her into his police cruiser after we had said our good byes. I know it was only a short separation, but it still pained me to see her go.

"Son, we should be going our selves. I need to get back to the hospital," Carlisle said, his thought showing me he wanted to ask me what had really happened. So I walked over to Rose and handed her my keys.

She and Alice booth hugged me, relieved that none of the humans seemed suspicious of us. _'I want to know _everything_ when I get home, Edward. I'm glad you did what you did, but it was a big risk to take,' _Rose thought at me will she said. "I'm glad you and Bella were not hurt." For the humans.

Alice's thoughts showed me she was just happy that I had acted as fast as I did and thrilled that Bella was safe. "Well, see you at home, Edward. Don't get a concussion, huh?"

Emmet and Jasper both gave me man-hugs and silently told me they'd cover anything I messed up. I could also see their relief that Bella was safe. Emmet added that we would be going and having a talk with Tyler later. I grinned a little bit at that.

I did one more sweep to the humans' minds as I headed back to Carlisle's car. I was astonished to see that no one suspected us as being different at all. Instead, they were now seeing how we were a very loving family. The whole van incident ended up helping us blend in more.


	19. Chapter 19 visitor

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own  
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A/N pluses read!

This chapter was going to have three parts with three different POV but the last part, is long. It will take until next week at the earliest to past it.

So I'm posting the fist two part now and will make the last part it's own chapter. It's not done yet but is longer then the two parts I'm pasting now.

The next chapter name is Pire. I'll put a preview of it at the end of this Chapter this.  
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Thank you to everyone how is reading.

I would also like to send out a big! Thank you to everyone how reviewed.  
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**Chapter 19 visitor **

Edwards POV:

I know Carlisle would not approve of what my brothers and I were about to do. Only Alice knew that we were not hunting. But her vision had shown that our little expedition would have the intended effect, without the loss of a human life, so she couldn't complain.

I listen closely to Jasper as he mentally prepares himself for the smell of human blood at the hospital; it's going to be intense. His resistance is the weakest of all of ours, being the newest to our lifestyle. He was simply going to hold his breath while in the hospital and let Emmet and I speak to the depraved human child. He would use his gift to emphasize our point.

Jasper took in one last lung-full of air before he cut off his breathing and we made our way into the hospital's large front entrance. Silently, we found our way to Tyler's hospital room. He was not alone. Mike Newton was visiting him, just as Alice had seen. That girl seems to come in handy.

We listened as the two human children talked about how Tyler was feeling, and what the extent of his injures had been as we make are way to his room. Newton's thoughts showed he was sympathetic, but also hostile toward Tyler.

An involuntary growl escaped my chest at the mental image in his mind: Bella dressed in white on the arm of her father as Newton waited at the front of a church. _She's mine!_ My thoughts snarled.

The pure force of the thoughts stunned my mind into clarity. Every human in Forks assumed Bella to be my girlfriend, but in reality I had never declared my true feelings for her. Our relationship was just a show to keep male children like Tyler away from her.

_I have no real claim on her._ The thought was devastating. I wanted her to truly be mine and, I wanted her to consider me her own. Could I truly be with her? I wanted that more then anything else. But how? She would run from me, I was sure of it, the moment she discovered what I was.

_"Edward!"_ both Jasper and Emmet mentally shouted at me. Their thoughts resounded clearly in my head. They both could sense I was 'brooding' over something.

They were right: I would have to go back to examine this revelation later. We had come here to put a stop to Tyler's unwanted, and now downright dangerous obsession with Bella.

"Tyler, man, I feel for you having your license revoked and all. But why the hell would you drive like that on the ice?" Newton asked, his hostility coming out as he remembered Bella being in the path of Tyler's careening van. "You could have **killed Bella**."

"She was_ why _I was_ speeding._ I wanted to get a chance to ask her out before Cullen…" The rest of his sentence died in his throat as Emmet, Jasper and I entered his hospital room.

"Oh, so you deliberately put everyone in danger so you could ask out my brother's girlfriend, Tyler?" Emmett's voice was as cold as steel. Jasper used his gift to wash nervousness over Tyler, and I shot him a murderous glare.

_"Fuck – fuck – fuck. I'm so glad I'm not Tyler right now. FUCK, they look like they're going to kill him." _I had to resist smiling at Newton's thoughts. I believed this trip to the hospital would definitely stop their stalker-like behavior towards Bella.

_"Shit, they look like they would kill me and enjoy it."_ Tyler's thoughts flooded my mind. This comment caused a smirk to play across my lips as I continued the dialogue in my head. _Oh yes, Tyler, we would very much enjoy killing you. _But if I were going to be worthy of Bella's affection even a little bit, then I would have to restrain myself.

"Yes, Tyler? Before the Cullens did what exactly?" I asked in a mock-polite voice. Tyler's heart sped up and adrenaline poured through his veins. His eyes darted between the three of us, searching for anything but the palpable hostility that filled the room. His mind was a loss, fear was consuming hem psyche and I could hear it all. His instincts were telling him to run. But he knew he had no chance. His only comfort was that Newton was in the room with him. He knew, or hoped rather, that we would not kill him with a witness

_"Man, if looks could kill, Tyler would be six feet under right now. Fuck, I want to get the HELL out of here, but I also want to see what's going to happen next." _ Newton's thoughts kept going, wavering between staying and leaving. Just like my brothers, I attempted to pay him no mind. It would be good for him to stay. Let him understand that the 'Cullens', as the children called us, protected the ones we cared for.

Emmett's thoughts showed he was became impatient with Tyler's lack of answers to the question we had both thrown at him. He towered next to Tyler's bed, arm at his sides, hands balled into fists, desperately wishing he could punish hem without killing him.

Jasper leaned up against the wall, arms crossed over his chest with a calm look on his face. His thoughts echoed in my head, he was pleased with the fear both Tyler and Newton was feeling.

"BEFORE. THE CULLENS. WHAT!" Emmet demanded, carefully empathizing each word. Tyler gulped as his face paled.

_'I have to say something! I know if I could just get her alone and kiss her, she would forget about that Cullen. She just doesn't know she wants it yet. I may have to force it on her at first.'_ Intense rage ran through me at his thought. Jasper picked it up and sent a calming wave over to me, keeping me in check. If he had not, I probably would have killed the child.

" B… B… Before C… C… Cullen could in… interfere with me…. me asking her… out." Tyler said in a whisper, sudden fear gripping his voice. Some of that terror was forced on him because of Jasper, but not all of it.

"Oh," I said sarcastically. "So because she's interested in someone else, you feel the need to 'correct' her feelings? To 'point out' to her that her feelings are 'wrong'? Is _that_ what you were going to do, Tyler? 'Persuade' her?"

"N-n-n-no," Tyler stammered, his fear obvious, as was the self-loathing Jasper was forcing upon him.

_'Killing him would be wrong' _Jasper kept repeating this as a mantra inside his head.

"No?" Emmett asked, as if reprimanding a misbehaving toddler.

"So you were doing a tidy thirty-five mines-per-hour on icy roads with bad visibility just so that you could, say, get to class thirteen minutes early?" I asked, knowing full well that was not why he was speeding.

_'Yeah, right, there's no way that why he was speeding, does he think they're going to buy that one?'_ Newton thought incredulously. It was insulting that he would think we would buy that. Even Newton, who was oblivious to everything, could see through that lie.

_'What the hell I'm a going to do? And why is Mike not helping me out? The FUCK?' _Tyler thought as he stumbled over his panicked excuse "Uh – I, uh… yeah."

_'Edward, please tell me he doesn't think we are going to believe that one.' _Emmett silently asked.

"No," I whispered back, too low and quickly for the two humans to ever notice that I had spoken.

_'He already admitted he was trying to ask Bella out before we showed up. What the hell is he trying to pull off? Maybe it's time for a dose of foolishness and then sudden, acute awareness,' _Jasper thought as he emotionally hit Tyler with both.

"Tyler, we came here to make a few things clear to you." I informed him in an overly calm voice. "You nearly killed Isabella Swan earlier. The woman I love. How can I express to you how much contempt and abhorrence my brothers and I have for you?"

'_Shit they're really going to kill me! And I'm still a virgin!'_ Tyler thought as his breath shortened and his heart rate went up.

"We're going to ask you nicely to _never_ drive like that again for not just Bella's safety, but for the community at large. Whether it is for 'persuading' someone that they fancy you, or to get to class thirteen minutes early. If you ever put Bella in danger again or so much as try and interact with her, we will hunt you down, and rip you apart. She is much to kind and polite to tell you to stay away from her so I will do it for her. Please bear this in mind in your future interactions with Bella. Do you understand me?" I growled at the end as Jasper pulled himself away for the wall to stand next to Emmett and me, pushing panic into Tyler to enhance my threat.

"Yes," Tyler could barely whisper it out through his panic and fear. _'Shit, they're scary! They really would kill me if I went anywhere near Bella. If I want to stay breathing, I had better stay way from her…'_

I could not help but smirk down at him as he realized just how badly he needed stay away from my mate, before Emmett, Jasper, and I left Tyler's hospital room, stunned Newton, and a panicked Tyler behind us.  
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**Carlisle: POV:**

I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital two hours before my shift was to start, only twelve minutes after receiving Alice's frustrated phone call. She had explained to me that shortly after her first class began, she had a vision of Chief Swan asking to see me here at the hospital, however, in her vision, I had not been here yet and he simply decided not to seek me out.

My phone vibrated in my pocket just as I stepped out of my car. I did not need to look at the caller id to know who it was.

"What did you see Alice?" I asked. She'd been calling me every five minutes with updates since the original vision.

"Chief Swan will be there asking to see you in three minutes. Make sure the woman at the information desk sees you and knows you're available to speak to. Then just go wait in your office and he will come up. I don't know what he's going to say to you beyond thanking you for your help after the crash yesterday, even though I can see he wants to speak with you about something else. If you play this right, he may tell use something about Bella that could lead us it understanding what going on with her… And after learning she's almost as strong as us… I just I don't know what to think any more. I'm so confused, Carlisle! I HATE it when humans don't make up their minds! I can't warn you about what he's going to say. I think he's just going to wing it. Two minutes now. Better hurry. Call me when he leaves, ok? Oh, no… I'll have seen everything by then. DANG IT! I wanna know NOW!"

"Alice, I'm going to have to hang up now," I interrupted calmly, cutting her tirade short. I need to head into the hospital promptly if I was going to meet Chief Swan in my office.

" Oh! Hello, Dr. Cullen" Gina, the front desk receptionist, greeted me with evident surprise. " Umm… you know you're not expected in until two PM today, don't you?"

"Hello, Gina. I'm aware of that fact thank you, but I wanted to go over one of my patient's files to make sure he's doing alright in Post-Op. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my office until my clinic hours start," I said, offering a plausible explanation for my early arrival – while letting it be known that I could see people as well. On my way past her and into my office, already hearing the Chief's cruiser pull into the hospital parking lot.

Bella was different, different then any human, or, for lack of a better word, 'mystical' being I had ever come across in my three hundred years. I had come to wonder if perhaps there was something about Forks that drew us all here, as improbable as I knew that to be.

The mere possibility that I may learn something that would unravel the mystery that was Bella excited me. I needed to get myself under control before Chief Swan and I came face to face. I could not let my intrigue over learning more about her show.

I sat down behind my desk and pulled out a medical journal about congenital bone disorders I had previously read in an attempt hide the fact that I was waiting for Bella's father. My wait was not long, just after I opened it there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," I called, trying to keep my voice form showing my anticipation.

I could hear Chief Swan take a deep breath and then slowly exhale it as he opened the door to my office. His face was unreadable, but I could still see his body language that he was stressed and nervous: shoulders slightly raised, his hand twitching slightly, eyes darting to the right and left.

"Hello, Chief Swan. I hope this is a social visit, or is there something I can help you with?" I asked politely, widening my eyes as he first walked in, hoping to make it look like his visit was a surprise to me. "Would you like to take a seat?" I offered, waving my hand at the armchair in front of my deck.

"Ah, yes… Hello, Dr. Cullen. And please call me Charlie," he said as he hesitantly sat down in the armchair I had indicted.

"Then please call me Carlisle, Charlie." I gave hem a warm, open smile, and waited for him to say something.

"Carlisle…. I… uh, I wanted to thank you for helping Bella yesterday." I was about to tell him no thanks were needed, but he took a deep breath and went on. "You being a doctor, and, from what I've heard, a good one at that. You must have picked up that she's…. Well, she's not like most people, and from what I seen you and your family are also not like most people, so I'm thinking you'll understand." I could not help tensing at his words. He must have noticed, because he rushed on. "I don't know why and I don't want to know why. I just want to know that I can talk to you about Bella." I relaxed slightly. We liked it here in Forks, and I did not want to have to move us again so soon. There would also be the problem of Edward. He just could not leave Bella behind. Yet somehow I didn't think we needed to worry too much. Charlie had his own secretes, he understood about some things needed to be kept secret. He had Bella to care for, as he'd said.

"Yes, I have observed things in Bella that should be kept quite," I admitted softly. I knew I was taking a risk in telling him that I knew she was different. He could shut down altogether or he could open up. "There is no need to thank me for my help yesterday. My family and I are all very fond of Bella, and we do understand." I hoped I was not telling him too much. The last thing we needed was to be exposed.

"Charlie, there are more people that are different in this world then you would think. More different than my family and me and more different than Bella," I said while silently begging him to tell me more about her.

"Oh," Charlie said and we lapsed into silence.

Several minutes passed without either of us saying anything. Charlie was looking down at his hands. He was probably going over everything we had spoken of, just as I was doing. Thus far, he had told me nothing I did not already know about Bella.

"Carlisle," Charlie shot his head up and looked me straight in the eye. "If I were to tell you about Bella… would you keep it to yourself…? Not tell anyone? I don't know how much you already know about Bella, but I can tell you more. Would you help me if I did?" I hated that I was about to lie to him, because I would tell my family, or Alice and Edward would. Alice, after seeing what was going to be said, even if it was only a second beforehand, and Edward as he listened to it in Alice's and my heads. However, I would not tell anyone outside my family.

"I will keep it between the two of us. Like I said, I do understand. I don't know that much about her except that her senses are enhanced, her hart rate is high and beats at the same rate at all time. Well, I don't know if it slows in her sleep, and that her body temperature runs high." I listed off what I had learned about Bella, worrying that I had said too much as Charlie went whiter and whiter and his heart rate went up.

Silence fell between us again, and another two minutes passed by as Charlie's color came back and his heart decelerated. He took a deep breath and whispered, "Those aren't the biggest differences about her." I had been hoping to find out what was causing the differences we had seen so far, not that there were more. But information was information, and anything we could get was welcome.

"She grew fast." What did that mean? He must have seen my confusion, because he went on. "When she was born… she didn't look like a new born should. She looked almost a month old. She could hold her own head up the next day. Bella has been alive for seventeen years, and in the first seven of them, she grew to look just as she does now, and in the last ten years she has not aged at all. Renee and I have lived in fear for the last ten years that the accelerated growth will start up again and she will end up dying young." Stunned, shocked, confused, I sat completely still behind my desk. I had never heard of anything like this. There was only one solution if her aging began again, and it was not something I could tell Charlie about. The only solution would be to change her. What comfort could I offer him?

"Charlie," I stared to say, trying to come up with something I could say to help him. But he raised his hand, stopping me before I could go on.

"There's more," he said, and then sat silently for another minute before looking back up at me. "Bella looks like she weighs about one hundred pounds, but she weighed even more than that when she was only three moths old, and she looked about one year old by then. I know that sounds fast, but her growth was the fastest during her first year, and it stated to slow down a little after that." Well, there was hope then. Maybe she would not age at all now. I knew I was grasping at straws, trying to find way for her to be with Edward and not have to be changed to be so. Once Emmett had brought it up, and Edward had almost ripped his arm off. Rose was not too happy with him for that one either.

"She doesn't eat that well either," he continued. Yes, Edward and the other had mentioned this. "I called Renee and asked her about it, and she said when she tried to get Bella to eat more, she ended up throwing it all up, like her body could not digest it or something." Perhaps her body needed some other kind of nourished, I wondered, but as to what that could be, I was at a loss.

"Bella's skin is as soft as mine, but even though she's so clumsy, I've never seen her cut herself. Even in the kitchen, and she does all the cooking. And when she's in the sun…. if you look at her just right it looks…. like she's coved herself in what Renee calls 'body glitter'. It's not too noticeable and she just tells people she uses a… a 'lotion with sheen', I think she said… not that I know what that means." I wanted to tell Charlie that while all this information was fascinating, I wanted to know the _reasons_ she was like this. I couldn't tell if he was building up to it, or just wasn't going to tell me, and it was getting a little frustrating.

"There is something…. Well, Renee has told me about this, but I have never had to deal with it before, and… with Bella and Edward seeing each other, I… think… I should, well… tell you about it." What on Earth could this be? My mind raged. Get on with it!

Charlie had stopped talking and was turning somewhat green about the gills, as the humans have it. His eyes darted away from me to the wall behind me. Whatever this was, it was not something Charlie seemed to want to talk about.

"Renee told me that…. well…um… when…. just before… umm… her..." He stopped once more and took a big breath. "Two weeks before Bella's…. um… menstrual cycle when she's…. ovulating… men start to flock to her…or men that are out with their girlfriends start to get wild with them… when… um… Bella… walks by. She um… thinks… that it has…um, well… something to do with Bella's pheromones or something…. She said she thinks they're like, ten times stronger then the average woman's. Bella dos not seem to be affected by them, but she said to keep her home when it happens. Luckily she said it only happens for about a day. So, um… yay…. Edward should maybe not see her that day…we um…. don't wont to be granddads so soon and all." I could see now why Charlie felt the need to tell me this even though he did not wont to talk about his little girl's pheromones and menstrual cycle. I felt a stab of pity for the man. This could not be a fun for him.

We could smell a human woman's pheromones, but it never seemed to affect any vampire male that I knew of. I wondered if Bella would affect Edward at all. But then again Bella was not the average human woman, and she was his mate. Not that Edward could get Bella pregnant. However, if her pheromones did call him to her like the human males… if so, could he resist a physical relationship with her? I know that Edward believed that a man and women should wed before consummating they relationship, but sometimes chemistry was quite overpowering.

Charlie had stopped talking, and the two of use again fell into silence. I replayed all the new information he had shared with me so far. Charlie pulled his eyes from the wall behind me and looked me in the eye once more. But still, he said nothing. Was this it? Was he not going to offer any theories as to why Bella was different at all? Did he _have_ any theories?

"I must say, Charlie I have never met any one as special as Bella. If I may ask, do you have any theories as to way Bella is so special?" Charlie eyes flashed with awareness before subsiding again. So he did know why.

He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but then closed it again. I cursed silently. He looked at me like he was going to try and say something to me, but then shook his head. He took a deep breath and tried again to say something, but what ever it was seemed to get lost in his throat and the only thing that came out was a muted chocking sound. He shook his head again and let out a resigned sigh. It looked almost like he was trying to tell me his theory, but was being physical stopped.

Why had Alice not sent Edward here to listen in to find out what it was Charlie wanted to say? Whatever was going on in Charlie's head right now could very well be the answer to many of our questions. What ever it was that kept Edward away, it must have been important.

"Charlie, I have given you my word that I will tell no one of what you say," I tried, reasoning with him.

"I know, it's not that. I… I just can't get the words out…. I think Nicky may have made it so I can't." Bella's Aunt Nicky? The one who died? What could she have done? What did he mean she made it so? It would seem he has given us just as many questions as answers today.

"Charlie if her accelerated growing does come back, I may be able to do something about it, but it would mean she could not be around other people for some time. I hope that it doesn't come to that, but I will do what it takes to keep her alive." Even if that mean pissing of Edward and Rose. They loved her, but they could not wish her life from her.

"If it keeps her alive, then I would agree to anything. Thank you, Carlisle," Charlie said with the first real smile I have seen on his face. He looked over at the clock on the wall next to the arm chair in the corner. "I should get back to the station. Mark must be wondering way I'm there," Charlie said. He stood and made his way to the door of my office. "Thanks, Carlisle, I have never had anyone outside of Renee to talk to about all this, and it was good getting it off my chest."

"My door is always open, Charlie if you need me. Oh, and I'll keep Edward away form Bella when her pheromones kick in," I said with an amused smile.

" Umm… good… that would be…. Yeah, thanks. I'll see you around, Carlisle," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Good bye, Charlie," I said as he left.

Charlie had only just shut the door to my office when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I glanced at the caller ID, knowing that it could be either Alice or Edward at this point. The caller ID read 'Alice'. I should have known.

"Hello, Alice, we should talk about all of this as a family when I get home." I said by way of greeting. After all, I needed some time to go over everything Charlie had told me.

"Yes, I _know_ Carlisle, and it will be a long conversation, trust me. Oh, and to answer your question: We needed Edward here and it relates to one of your other questions. Bella's pheromones _do_ affect vampires, and Edward was effected more so then both the human males and Emmet and Jasper. If Edward did not stay close to her, all the humans would start bombarding her with questions about the van crash and her pheromones would be calling to all the males and the single men would start trying to cop a feel on her, so as you can see, he absolutely would not leave her. Her pheromones started up just as the Chief and you started talking. Oooh, boy, Edward was having such a hard time keeping himself from not trying to… well… let's say 'kiss her', just for the sake of decency. Rose and I told the nurse she had a headache and had to go home. Edward was outside in the forest out of scent-range, watching the house because of the thoughts he was hearing in the human males' heads about her. And… well, Rose, Emmet, Jasper and I came home because… um, Emmet and Jasper's needs were in great need of us. Edward will come home when you do, so we can all talk. Oh, you're going to get paged by the ER. Bye, Carlisle."

"Bye, Alice."

Well, she had answered one of the hundred of questions I had about Bella. Not that that was saying much.  
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**Preview: **chapter 20, Pire

I had tried to convince my aunt to stay with the Amazonian coven of vampires; Zafrina, Senna, and Kachiri would have kept her safe. The three had a very wild look about them, with tall and stretched out-looking frames, long arms and legs, long fingers, long faces and noses, long black braided hear and blood-red eyes. We had met them after they helped my sister, her mate and their one grown Child and one not yet grown Child flee from my father, Joham.


	20. Chapter 20 Pire

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own.  
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Hello everyone

Thank you all for your reviews. I love hearing what people have to say about my story. So thank you, thank you, and thank you.

I'm not one to ask for reviews but with this chapter I am.

This chapter was never meant to be a stand along chapter or this long. I'll I can say is that it had a mind of it's own.

I loved righting it and my Bata love editing it. (Yes I have a Beta she and I are friends and if you think my grammar and spelling is bad you should see it before she go over it. _Oh and sorry about that_.)I hope everyone like's this chapter as much as we did.

Both of us have a cold so I have not started the next chapter so it will be two or three weeks sorry.  
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Chapter:20 Pire

Nahuel's POV:

Huilen and I looked upon the ancient city of beautiful Volterra from our viewpoint just outside the city's stone walls in the ruins of an ancient Roman theater of Volterra, Italy. Its stone buildings, coble stone streets, and outer stone walls giving it the illusion of a quiet, safe city. Of course, the human residents had no notion of how deadly the city truly was. For coming to this city could truly mean Huilen and my deaths.

I had tried to convince my aunt to stay with the Amazonian coven of vampires; Zafrina, Senna, and Kachiri would have kept her safe. The three had a very wild look about them, with tall and stretched out-looking frames, long arms and legs, long fingers, long faces and noses, long black braided hear and blood-red eyes. We had met them after we helped my sister, her mate and their one grown Child and one not yet grown Child flee from my father, Joham.

However, for all their wild and intimidating presence, they were perfectly pleasant and understanding. They let us explain how and what my sister, her growing Child, and myself were. In the end, they had invited us to stay with them, an offer which my sister, her mate, and their two Children had readily accepted.

I had hoped that Huilen would accept as well, and continued to stay with them, but no such luck. I, however, did not; knowing I would not be staying once my sister's family was safe. I wanted to stop my father and his partner's experiments on my kind and had spoken to Huilen about my plan. I had begged her to stay, but she insisted that she would honor the promise she had made to my mother, and look after me.

So, like my mother before her, she would risk her life for me. I just hoped that, unlike my mother, it would not kill her. Vampires are monsters in their own way, but my kind is stained with blood and death the very moment we enter the world. By killing the very woman who loves us most, our mothers, we are forever tainted. I wondered again if I had brought about my own death sentence by coming here. However, if I could stop what they were doing, it would be worth my own death. I just hoped they would let Huilen go, even if they decided to kill me for being an aberration.

I looked over at my aunt, sadness etched deep into my eyes and face. I felt almost certainly that this would be the last time. Her small frame, olive-toned skin and long braid of black hair lying against her back, her red eyes growing darker by the minute. She hadn't hunted in the last week, and I could feel her strain. Her darkening red eyes held unshed tears of her own. Dawn was fast approaching, and we would need to make our way into the city now. This needed to conclude before the humans could see her as she truly was.

Leaving the shelter of the ruins of the ancient theater, we walked at a speed that humans would deem 'fast' to the gates of the city. Before even reaching the gates, we could smell many different vampires. We exchanged worried glances. Just as we reached the gates, Huilen stopped and took in an unnecessarily large breath and closed her eyes.

"We need to speak to your masters on an antique matter," her voice rang clear through her worry, her English heavily accented, for neither of us knew much Italian.

A man with deep crimson eyes appeared in the opening of the city gate. He towered over us, and his thick shoulders draped heavily in a grey cloak. He smelled of sea salt, mint and honey and it mixed with the muted scent of stone radiating from the city. He looked at Huilen and then his eyes slid across to meet mine with evident confusion. He inhaled a deeper breath, testing my scent.

I had stopped eating any human food a month prior to coming here. I lived only on blood, so that my scent would not smell of human flesh. Hunting always seemed somewhat wrong to me. Being half human myself, it felt wrong to kill and consume my own kind. Though I could live on food prepared by humans, the taste of it disgusted me. Eating human food would cause me to smell more like one, and it slightly hindered my vampiric speed and strength.

"Identify yourselves," the man hissed. At this the sound of light footsteps could be heard making their way toward us at a fast-for-a-human pace.

"I am Huilen, and this is my nephew, Nahuel. We traveled here in the hopes of gaining an audience with the Lords of the Volturi." Huilen's voice quivered for a moment, I reached over and grasped my aunt's hand, hoping to ease her worry.

A breeze coming in from the nearby coast blew the Cajun Sunrise rose-leather and honey scent belonging to the owner of the light footsteps to us. The man snapped his head in the direction of the footsteps, just as a young girl rounded the corner and made her way over to us. The girl was far tinier then Huilen, her pale brown hair trimmed short. Her face was pretty and narrow with wide, expressive eyes. Her body, hidden under a cloak – which was darker, almost black –was slim and androgynous.

"Jane," the man addressed the girl, lowering his head in a small bow, respect lacing his voice. Jane, as the man had called her, did not look at him, instead glancing over at Huilen, and then to me. Just like the man, she inhaled a deeper breath, testing my scent of orange-walnuts and honey that was too sweet to be human. She then looked up at the sky. The sun was just minutes away from breaking through the clouds.

"Felix, run ahead and inform the masters of their request for an audience. The sun will be rising soon, and she has no way of covering her skin from human eyes," Jane threw a pointed glare at Huilen as she pointed out the coming sunrise. Huilen grabbed her head and whimpered at the small girls glare. Her whimper made me wonder if this child had an extra talent that she was using on her. "We will meet you there once I have informed the others that there is no threat," she snapped out.

Felix, as she called the larger man, turned without a word. He ran at a fast human speed into the city, and disappeared around the same corner from where Jane had come.

"You smell more like us than a human, yet I can hear your heart beating and the blood running through your veins. You're almost as pale as us, yet still seem dark-skinned," Jane said, as she looked me up and down. "You don't smell anything like a child of the moon, and are too small to be one," she continued in a cold voice, as she tasted my scent on the air once more. "So then, what are you?" she snapped at me. It seemed that I was going to need to explain myself to others even before I'd be allowed to speak to the Lords of the Volturi.

"My father and his partner have taken to calling us half-breeds," I said carefully. "My mother was human and my father is a vampire." Jane froze in place, but I continued. "I'm part human and part vampire, though my vampire traits are dominant over my human ones." Jane had yet to respond to anything I had said. "We came here to tell the Lords of the Volturi about my father. He considers himself a scientist. He thinks he's creating a new super-race." Jane's eyes showed palpable disbelief as she looked at me. Then she turned her eyes skyward again as traces of vivid color lit the sky.

"Come," she snapped, suddenly business-like, and turned quickly on her heel. We followed her through the city gates at a fast human speed. No one said anything as she led the way through the city, keeping to the shade of the alleyways. Once through the alleyways, we came to a square with a clock tower, and a small-ish medieval castle with an elaborate business facade. She led us across the square, to the immense oak doors of the castle.

The oak doors opened up to a luxurious lobby, with white marble floors, stone walls with a set of elevator doors at the other end. We followed Jane into the elevator and waited in silence for the elevator to open two floors down.

The elevator door opened and the three of us stepped out into a long hallway with long antique looking tapestries hanging from the stone walls. The floor seemed to be a continuous shade of monotone gray. Common rectangular fluorescent lights were spaced evenly along the ceiling.

The hallway ended, delving into a posh reception area. The walls were tastefully paneled in wood, the floors carpeted in a thick, deep green rug. There were no windows, but large, brightly lit paintings of the Tuscan countryside hung everywhere, giving the illusion of open space. Pale leather couches were arranged in small group, and the glossy tables supported crystal vases full of vibrantly colored bouquets.

In the middle of the room was a high, polished mahogany counter. At this central island, a tall, dark-skinned human sat. Of everything I had heard about the Volturi, I was surprised to see that they had a human working for them. Their main role was to keep the existence of vampires from the humans. She must know what they are, so why have a human working for them? I looked over at Huilen she had the same confused expression, as I must have.

"A human," she whispered. It was the fist time she had spoken since meeting Jane. Huilen and I were still looking at each other in confusion as Felix entered the reception area.

"The Masters wish to speak with you," he said to Jane. I wondered if that meant they were agreeing to meet with us, or if they just wanted to speak to Jane about us. "I'm to wait with our visitors," he finished, looking over at us dejectedly. He was clearly rather upset to be excluded from the secret discussion.

Jane glided past him toward a set of double doors at the rear of the room.

"Hello, Felix," the human said, a blush staining her cheeks, causing my mouth to fill with venom. I must have gone far too long without eating or hunting. Huilen tensed at my side. It seemed as if she felt the same yearning as I did.

"Gianni." He nodded and winked at her, then turned his glowering eyes on us.

"Hello, Felix." Huilen said, the friendly smile she was giving him taking me by surprise. Felix moved closer to us and smiled back at her.

The wooden double doors in the back of the room flew open and Jane appeared back in the room. That hadn't taken long, I noted. Only a few minutes had passed since she had left us.

"Our masters have agreed to your request for an audience and will see you know." She led the three of us into yet another wide ornate room; the door at the end of the hall seemed sheathed in gold. I assumed that this was the direction she was leading us in until she stopped halfway down the hall. Her eyes searched for a minute crack on the wall's paneling. She edged a nail beneath a board and exposed a plain wooden door.

The other side of the door was just another hallway, but it had the same ancient stone as the square and alleys and with being darker and colder than the rest of the castle. The stone antechamber was not large. It opened quickly into a brighter, more cavernous room, perfectly round, like a huge castle turret.

Long windows along the top of the walls, about two stories up, supplied the only light in the room. Three men in pitch-black robes sat in the only furniture in the room, three massive throne-like wooden chairs. Behind the central chair stood a woman, her face hidden beneath the hood of her gray robe. The man sitting in the chair to the right had snow-white hair that came down to his shoulders. His eyes, which were aimed at us, held fierce distrust.

The man on the left had black hair that also came down to his shoulders. He looked at me with curiosity for only a split second, and then looked away, like he was utterly bored with what was going on. He looked up towards the long windows above.

The man in the center in largest of the three throne-chairs also had black hair, but his brushed against the floor behind hem. His eyes locked with mine and his gaze held curiosity and interest, along with distrust.

The three men were different than any other vampire I had ever seen before, different then the other vampires in the room with us. There skin was translucently white, like onion skin, powdery like chalk. Their eyes were red like all other vampires, but the color was clouded, milky.

Other vampires lined the room around them, and Jane went to stand next to a boy who looked startlingly like her. There was also a pair of pale women in summer dresses looking at us coolly. Felix went to stand next to a man with dark brown hair who looked small in comparison to Felix, but I think any one else would have looked small next to him.

"Welcome to Volterra. I am Aro, and this is my brother Caius," Aro gestured to the blond vampire to his right. "And my brother Marcus." he gestured to the black-haired vampire to his left. "We are the Lords of the Volturi, the men you have requested an audience with. My Jane has told me the two of you are here to tell use about Nahuel and your concerns about his father. I would like to hear your story form the beginning, if you don't mind." Aro, the man in the center, in largest of the three throne-chairs requested.

I knew my story truly started with my mother, and the only one in the room who knew it first hand was Huilen. I looked over at her and could see in her eyes that she knew that too. She would have to tell my mother's story.

"I am Huilen," she began. Listening to her, it was apparent she had prepared herself for telling this story.

"A century and a half ago, my sister and I lived with our people, the Mapuche. My sister was beautiful. Our parents named her Pire after the snow on the mountains because of her fair skin." Huilen had a faraway look in her eyes, like see was seeing my mother in front of her once more.

"She came to me one day in secret and told me of an angel that would come to her in the woods at night. I warned her, but she just laughed." She shook her head mournfully at the thought of my mother's denial of danger. "I knew he was no angel, but the Libishomen spoken of in our legends. The bruises on her skin were evidence of that. But she would not listen. She was bewitched. She was in love." I couldn't help the shame I felt at the unshed tears in her eyes.

"Soon after she told me of her angel, she came to me in secret once more, telling me she was sure his child was growing inside her. I didn't try to discourage her from her plan to run away, knowing Mama and Papa would agree with the elders that the child must be destroyed, Pire with it. I ran with her into the deepest parts of the forest. I helped her searched for her demon angel, but we never found him. She quickly became ill and her strength failed, so I hunted for her. She ate the animals raw, drinking their blood. This confirmed what I already knew to be true, that she was carrying a monster with in her womb. I hoped to save her life before I killed the monster."

I had gotten so lost in my aunt's retelling of my mother's story I failed to hear the approaching footsteps behind me, until delicately strong arms wrapped around me from behind, bringing with it the scent of morning mist cream and the honeyed smell of venom. I turned my head around to come face to face with one of the woman in the sundresses who I had seen before. She smiled a warm, comforting smile that I hesitantly returned. I could tell she was trying to comfort me.

"She loved the child growing inside of her, even as he grew strong and broke her bones. She named him Nahuel, after the jungle cat." I shivered at my aunt's words, and the strong arms holding me tightened.

"Nahuel ripped his way out of her womb sooner than any true baby should have. There was nothing I could do to save her, and she died quickly, begging me as she died to care for her Nahuel, her son. It was her dying wish, and I agreed, for I did not wish her harm." I looked over at my aunt to see the unshed tears she would never be able to shed for my mother, her sister, trapped in her blood-red eyes.

"When I tried to lift him from her body, he bit me. I crawled away from him, into the jungle to die and be with my sister once more. The pain was too much, and I didn't get far. While I burned, he found me. Just a newborn Child, and he struggled through the underbrush to my side and waited for me. After the pain ended, I found him curled against my side, sleeping."

She looked over at me and smiled, the first some-what happy smile I had seen in weeks. She loved that she had found me sleeping next to her when she came out of the pain. 'The last part of her sister she had left,' she said at the time.

"I cared for him until he was able to hunt for himself. We preyed on the villages around our forest, staying to ourselves. Until Joham," Huilen hissed my father's name in disgust. "Nahuel's vampire father came looking for him a few years after my sister died." At my aunt's rage, the delicate arms of the female vampire pulled me closer to her, away from my aunt.

"Athenodora," Caius, the blond man sitting in the chair to the right snapped. "What is it you think you are doing? Step away from him at once." The woman, Athenodora, hold on to me tighter as he snapped at her angrily.

"Caius, do you not understand? He is a true vampire Child." She let me go only to stand right in front of me, her stance protective. She ran her hand down my face from my temple to my chin. Then she turned and looked into the eyes of Caius, her mate.

"One that lives and grows from our kind. A Child, my love, how can I not want to be near him how?" her voice held heart-ache as she pleaded with him. "All of my long-dead motherly instincts tell me to protect him, to care for him. He looked so sad, and his eyes hold as much self-hatred as she," Athenodora hissed out the words, and shot a glare at my aunt. "She spoke of his mother's death and his birth."

"Athenodora, as of yet, we do not know if what she has said is the truth. He could be dangerous. Please, my love, move away from him." Caius' voice softened, his eye showing affection and concern for the delicate-seeming woman. She moved reluctantly to his side, and turned to face me with a warm smile once she had. She clearly didn't find us dangerous.

"Nahuel," Aro locked eyes with me, his face holding skepticism, his lip pursed. "If what your aunt has told us is true, that would mean you are one hundred and fifty years old, yes?"

"Yes, about that, give or take a decade. Huilen and I don't keep track," I answered as politely as I could.

All three of the Lords' eyes held both skepticism and interest "And at what age was it that you stopped growing and reached maturity, would you say?"

"I grew much faster then a human baby, before and after birth. It scared Huilen until my growing came to a stop, about seven years later. That's when I hit maturity, you could say." Athenodora sighed next to her mate as I spoke of my growth.

"So fast… That does not sound like much of a childhood," she said in a sad whisper.

"You only look about seventeen, maybe as old as twenty one. Have you not aged from the time you were seven?"

"I have looked this way from the time I was seven, though my hair and nails still grow. It seem like I can gain and lose weight too, though only a small amount. But the look of my age stays the same," I explained, keeping my voice and demeanor polite.

"What about your diet?" Caius asked, this time interest clears on his and Aro's faces though Marcus had gone back to looking up at the light coming through the long windows above. However, all three men looking less skeptical now. Athenodora looked at her mate with a warm smile as he asked his first question of me.

"I prefer to live on blood, but I can survive on human food. When I was around sixteen, I tried only living on human food. Taking my nourishment from humans, when I am part human myself, just seemed wrong to me. However most human food tastes disgusting to me, and living on it weakens me." Beside me, Huilen let out a sigh and shook her head as she came to stand right next to me, taking my hand. When I had tried to live on only human food, she thought I was being absurd. Being the Child of a vampire, it was only natural that I consume blood. She said that if I were meant to eat human food, then it would taste better to me.

"And how did it weaken you?" Aro asked, his intrigue not disguised in the least. Looking around the room, all of the other vampires held looks of interest too. Even Marcus looked back at me.

"I'm not sure how to explain it," I stalled, trying to think of a way to explain it to them. Aro and the other were stating to look impatient, so I added. " Just give me a minute please." I realized all I could do was explain how it felt to me, and hope they would understand.

"The only way for me to explain it would be for me to tell you how it felt to me, though I'm not sure you will understand it," I warned them.

"That is all I ask. We may not be able to understand, but it will give us a clear pitcher," Aro assured me.

"When I started eating only human food, my scent weakened. You could say my human scent was stronger then my vampire scent. Or at least, that's how Huilen described it to me." I looked over at my aunt, and she nodded her head in agreement.

"I still moved faster than humans, more like vampires but when I was living on human food, my fastest speed slowed down by twenty miles per hour. And for the first year that's all that happened."

"The fist year," Aro cut in. "How long did you restrain form your thirst?" he asked.

"About six years," I answered. Aro looked shocked and impressed. "After the first year was up, I stared to need to sleep more. After reaching maturity, I only needed about eight hours a week of sleep, but I ended up needing to sleep at least five hours a day when living on human food."

"You sleep?" Marcus sounded wistful. It had been the first time he had said anything the entire time we had been there. Both Aro and Caius looked over at him in surprise.

"Yes, something my aunt as told me I should be grateful for. She says she misses sleep," I said, looking over at the wistful look she also had on her face.

"About two years into my diet, my physical strength began to fade. As I grew, so did my physical strength, until I was even stronger than my aunt. Not by much, but still a little bit stronger. Then one day the two of us were play fighting and she landed a hit on me and it bruised me. It was the first time I had ever been hurt in any way. It only stayed on my skin for about a minute before fading away, but even so."

I stopped and took a look around the room at everyone faces to see if they could understand what I was saying at all. It seemed that so far, they we all following what I was telling them. I knew that for the next part they would at least somewhat understand.

"Through all of my growth, I had had an easier time with my thirst than Huilen had with hers. I would feel some discomfort in my throat but not the burn Huilen has described to me. So resisting was never a problem for me, until we were running near a village when the scent of human blood overwhelmed me to the point I that felt dizzy and it took everything in me to not go after the scent and drain whoever it was." Shame washed through me again at the memories.

"After the first dizzy spell, I started to get them more and more frequently. Then after a year of that, they increased to twice a month, and then one time a week, and then two or three times a week, until I was having them multiple times a day." I had hated the spells. I could barely move whenever I had one, leaving me vulnerable to any threat that may be near.

"Yet, I still held on stubbornly to my resolve to only live on human food. It was not until we ran into a child of the Moon that I started to change my mind." Athenodora gasped and put her hand over her mouth at the mention of a child of the Moon, and Caius let out a growl at their name. "After that, I ended my human food diet." I continued.

"We had no idea that werewolves existed, though, like for vampires, the villagers had stories of them as well. It was a full Moon that night, and Huilen went out to hunt as I slept. On the hunt, she ran across a horrific scent, and that triggered her instinct to flee." There were many hisses throughout the room.

"She ran back to were I was sleeping, and awakened me, telling me that we needed to go. It was only fifteen minutes until the sun was going to rise, and I was in no condition to fight if the owner of the scent was hostile. Though we went in the opposite direction than the scent, we ended up face to face with the owner of that same revolting scent just moments before sunrise. He was by far the biggest wolf I had ever seen. He only looked to be a big revolting smelling wolf, yet my instincts were telling me to run, so I trusted in them." Just the memory of his scent made me feels sick.

"As we turned to run he lunged for us, his nails slicing deeply into my back from my shoulder to my waist. The wound covered me in my own blood, the first and only time I had ever bled at all." Dry sobs come from both my aunt and Athenodora, and many of the men in the room growled. Aro, Caius and Marcus' face's held mixed looks of anger, horror, and concern.

"Agonizing physical pain shot through me along with the worst dizzy spill yet. I fell and the beast landed right on top of me, teeth and nails ready. He wasted no time in sinking his teeth into my arm, just above my elbow, and ripping a chunk of flesh from my arm. Before he could do any more damaged to me, my aunt was able to get him off me, but the damage was done. The sun rose and he screamed as he changed back into a man." Huilen had frozen in place, dry sobs wracking her chest. My eyes sought hers, trying to tell her without words that I was fine, yet the retelling seemed to shake her as though we were going through it all over again.

"You survived. Your injuries would have killed a human," Aro exclaimed in astonishment.

"Just like when I had been bruised, it only took small amount of time to heal, but I had still lost a lot of blood. Huilen carried me away as I healed. Even after healing, I was so weak I could barley stay conscious. She knew I needed blood to replace what I had lost. She went and found a human and brought it back to me to feed from. After feeding I healed completely, without any scarring. I went back to feeding on blood after that." I hated reliving this story, though I know it would show them a great deal about me. I know I could live on human food alone, but it had been foolish to do so. I had weakened myself and put both my self and my aunt in danger because of it.

"You are venomous? Able to create an immortal?" Aro asked as his eyes swept over to Huilen, his voice intense with curiosity.

"Yes, my father's partner's two sons and I are, but my sisters cannot." I was relieved that we had finally started speaking of my father and his partner. A shocked murmur ran through the gathered vampires at the mention of my family.

Aro's eyebrows shot up, and his eyes speckled with curiosity. "There are others," he said in quiet wonder. "It would seem there is quit a bit more to your story. Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell us."

"My Lords," I said, not knowing exactly how to address them. "You could say I know better then anyone about the others. From the first moment I was born I could feel…. Maybe 'scene' is a better word, other consciousnesses a part from my own**.** Some were in the back of my mind. Even though they were always there, I can ignore them, and block then out unless I want to be aware of them." I looked around the room, surprised to see that many of the faces held looks of understanding.

"I did not understand what the other consciousnesses were until my father came looking for me a few years after my mother's death." Merely thinking of my father caused my body to go tense, and at my tension the three Lords exchanged tense look of there own.

"When he found us, he brought with him my two younger sisters. As soon as I met them, I know that it was their consciousnesses I was feeling. I could not read their minds, as I have heard some can, yet I know them. After meeting them, I came to realize that I could find them wherever they were, if I wanted. I also know that the older of the two, Alana, possess the talent to draw humans to her. Where as the younger one, Sai, had no talent." Sadness and regret gripped me as Sai's kind and loving face lingered in my mind. If only I had tried to get her to come with Huilen and me, she would still be alive.

"My father, Joham, was pleased to find me, because the rest of his offspring consisted only of girls. He was surprised I was not alone. Like I told you, my sisters are not venomous. They had both struggled through their first year alone, so when he came, they happily joined him. He expected me to be and do the same as they," I hissed out the last part.

"I told him I did not wish to join him. He tried to convince me by saying I would have a family if I come with them. Family indeed," I growled in disgust. "I told him I already had a family with Huilen. However, I did wish to spend time getting to know my sisters, so Huilen and I spent two weeks with them, and in that time I grew fond of my sister, Sai." Sai was kind; she loved everyone, and only wished to see us all happy. Where as Alana was and still is selfish and petty.

"Joham put on a good show of wanting us to be a family in the two weeks we spent with him. He only slipped up once, when Huilen asked him if there were lot half-breeds in the world. 'No, they are the only ones,' he had answered her. She had come to conclude that she and all other vampire women could not have children when after her change, her menstrual cycle stopped. 'So you must have desired to be a father badly too try having a Child with a human woman. I still don't understand how you could have had the restraint needed to be intimate with a human.' She knew he must not have loved any of the human, seeing as he left them. 'No, I consider myself a scientist. I wish to create a new super-race. I failed many times, killing the humans, before their mothers.' Right then, she knew he did not see us as his children, but as his lab rats. We did not stay long after that." I could not help wondering what the thoughtful look on Aro's face could mean.

"My sister and I were the only three for about ten years. So imagine my shock when my connection with them told me that they were both with Child." Gasps came from many in the room. "At around the same time, five new consciousnesses joined my sisters within my mind. They were all gifted, and all girls fathered by Joham. I wanted to go to them and find out what it was my father was doing, but Huilen talked me out of going. Over the last one hundred or so years, Joham has father six more gifted girls."

Caius growled, and a sadistic smile spread across his face as he looked over at Aro. "From what this Nahuel has told us, I believe this Joham may be trying to create some kind of army." Caius looked back at me, his face still holding the sadistic smile. "You said your father has a partner. What do you know of that?" he asked me, and I feared for my life once again.

"I had only just met him before coming here. You could say I became 'aware' of him before meeting him. Like with my sisters, when he fathered two son of his own a connection was made between their minds and my own. And just like with my sisters, through their consciousnesses, I found that they were fathered not by Joham, but by another. I could tell that they were talented or gifted, and what their gifts are."

I had slowly begun to hope that the Volturi would not kill us, but the sadistic smile that grow on Caius' face showed me just how naive I had been for letting that hope take root. Joham had told us that any vampire would kill us for being what we were. Yet the Amazonian had not. They were almost mothering to my sister Zoe, her Children, and I. They had said 'we cannot help but love you.'

"Like you, Lord Caius, I too believe that is Joham's goal, and it is also the reason why I have traveled here to speak with you. Recently, my sister Sai's connection with me disappeared. I grew worried, and talked Huilen into going with me to seek out Joham, in the hope of finding out what had happened to her. I was afraid she had run into a vampire and been killed. Joham told Huilen and me if any vampire but himself ever met me, they would kill me."

"Why would he say that? If you were the first, then how could he know how others would react to you? And what…what happened with your sister Sai? When you spoke of her it looked as if you loved her dearly." Athenodora's soft voice rang out in a questioning tone. Sadness shot through her eyes as she asked about Sai. How sweet, loving women like her ended up mated to a man who could make me fear for my life was beyond me.

"Huilen and I followed the connection I had to the others and found them living on a island in Atlantic near Brazil's coast. That was when I met my eleven other sisters, Maria, Leticia, Ana, Lara, Paula, Maialen, Ava, Zoe, Georgia, Yasmin and Caitlin, and my sister Alana's mate Logan. Apparently he was one of the humans my sister called to her for a meal, but instead of food, had drawn a lover. She had asked Joham to change him for her. Their only Child a son named Davi." Alana has always been my father's favorite because of her talent. He would not have done that for any of the other. It only went to show me how little I was like him.

"My sister Zoe, the eighth girl born to Joham, also has a mate. He is a vampire, changed by Joham when his partner told him he would have a gift. Zoe and her mate, Nuka, have one son, Hans that has just reached maturity. They also have a three-month-old daughter, Elvira. " It was Zoe and her mate that told me of Sai and her sons' deaths by Joham's hand.

"That is also when I met Ethan, Joham's partner and his two mature sons, Max and Leonardo. Ethan was a human called like many, to Alana by her gift. From what I was told, he looked at her and said 'you are gifted'. Joham, who waited out of sight with the others, heard him say this, and decided to change, him thinking he would have a gift of his own once changed. He was right. Ethan awoke from his change as a very gifted vampire." Once I had learned of Ethan's gift, many of my questions had gained answers.

"Ethan's gift is that he can tell whether a human, if changed, will have a gift as a vampire. My father used his gift in one of his experiments. He had Ethan help him find human women who could have a gift to mate with, in the hopes of her bearing Children with gifts. That is why all the children born after Alana, Sai and myself have gifts. We inherited them, in a way, from our mothers."

Aro's eyes had a calculating look in them, as his face suddenly went unreadable. "Well, that would indeed be a nice gift to _posses_," he murmured. I could not help but notice the emphasis he put on the word 'posses'. "I was wondering why so many of you seem to be gifted." A strange kind of smile had started showing on his face, one that made me uncomfortable.

"Yes, it was one of many of his experiments. Zoe told me of two of his others. Out of all my sisters, she was the closest to Sai. Joham chose Sai to do all of his experiments on." The word experiments come out of me in a hiss. "She was the only one of his half-breeds that did not have a gift. The first was having her mate with a human man too see what her Child would be like. He probably got the idea after Alana became pregnant with her son. My guess is that he wanted to see what the difference between the two would be." I knew that one of the Lords was bound to ask what their children would be like, so I rushed on.

"Our Children are like us in must ways. Once the Child hits the age of twenty-six, their hearts stop, but only when the father is a vampire, leaving no difference between them and their vampire fathers. With a human father, they are still like us, except not as strong or fast, although they do stop aging like us. Zoe told me this, leading me to think they most be immortal too." Murmurs of fascination and amazement ripples over the collected figures. Other voices muttered that it all seemed too far-fetched to be true. Aro raised his hand to stop the chatter.

"The other experiments you spoke of." Evident distaste for the word 'experiments' tainted Aro's voice. Whether it was just for my benefit or that he too could see just how wrong it was to experiment on us, I had no idea.

"I don't know all about all of them; just three. The last one Zoe told me about was what led to Sai and her son's death. Joham wanted to know what it would take to kill us. Zoe does not know what was done to Sai and her son. She only knows that Sai died when she was ripped apart and then burned with her son. Joham only had to pierce his heart by punching through his chest with his hand. Zoe told me she and Nuka wanted to take their two children and leave. However, after what had happened with Sai and her son, they were afraid of what Joham would do to them if they tried." I could not stop the rage that rolled off of me while I spoke of their deaths and Zoe's fear.

"After speaking with Zoe, I went to Joham in rage. I demanded to know why he had been running experiments on Sai and her son, and why he killed them. I did not truly understand the implication of his answer at the time. Not having known anything about you, my Lords. He said, 'I need to know everything about my half-breeds. You see, through all of you, I have come to understand that it should be I who rules over vampire kind. My half-breeds will help me in this, whether you want to or not. Some day, my son, you will come to understand.' I was sickened. If I had thought there was no way for me to hate him more I was wrong." Growls and hisses alike could be heard as I finally told them what it was I had come here to say.

"You have come, not to tell us about you and your sisters, but because you believe this Joham wants to make you and your sisters overthrow us for him," Caius growled out, and others in the room joined him in his anger. Aro look remarkably calm and Marcus looked on blankly as if he was simply waiting for it to end.

"Yes, my Lords, that is way I risked you killing me to come here. I wanted to warn you that he could be planning to try and seize power from you. As I have said, when Johan told me of his plans to rule over the vampire race, I had yet to learn of you. It was not until Huilen and I helped Zoe, Nuka and their children run away from our father that we learned of you. We ran in to the Amazon and end up meeting a coven of three-vampire woman. After telling them everything about us, they, in turn, told us everything about the vampire world that Johan had hidden from us. We had never gone near others because of the fear he had instilled in us, but that fear was completely unfounded."

With nothing left to say, all I could do was stand in silence as I waited to know what our fate was to be. Fear and sadness coursed through me at the knowledge that I had said what I had come to say. The fear was for both Huilen and myself. They knew everything now, and could easily kill us. The sadness was not for me, but for Huilen, knowing that her coming with me could end her life as well.

"You thought we would destroy you, and yet you still came to us with this warning, young one," Aro said, but I could not tell what he words could mean for us.

"Yes, my Lord, I did. I believe my father has to be stopped, and that you needed to know that he could be planning to fight you for your roles as leaders of vampire kind. If it meant my life to do so, then I was willing to give it." I was not trying to flatter them, or win them over. It was the truth, after all, and I had nothing to hide.

"Including you there are fifteen, as you call yourselves half-breeds, in the world, and three Children have been born from them," Aro reiterated causing fear to overwhelm me. Had I put all of us in danger by coming here? Would they hunt my sisters and their Children down? I had not thought of that when making my plan to come here.

"No, including me there are sixteen of us in all. Another girl was born about seventeen years ago, but she disappeared straight away, so I call her Flicker. I have come to believe that she must have been killed during, or even before her birth, because while I had a connection with her while she remained unborn, it disappeared suddenly around the time she would have come out of the womb. I did learn some thing about her though: had she lived, she would have been powerfully gifted, though I don't know what kind. A girl, as I said. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to pinpoint her location or her parentage because she died too quickly."

Yes, Flicker, my little mystery. Who were you? Who had killed you? Why?

"I asked Joham and Ethan about her, assuming that they would know something, even if she had just been some foul experiment of theirs, but they both seemed genuinely shocked and angry when I told them of her."

Suddenly, something struck me: "Of course… of course, it could be her gift that hides her from me…" I said slowly. _Why had that never occurred to me before?_

Aro sat forward and steepled his fingers, intensely interested. I hoped I had not just condemned Flicker, along with the rest of us, to extinction. She has always been my mystery to ponder and try to solve. Even not knowing her, I became enthralled with her mystery. Knowing she not related to me in any way, I sometimes found myself dreaming of finding her and then finding love with her. The two outsiders even in our own kind. Of course, those had been hopeless daydreams, for I had thought her dead. But now…

"Hum," was all Aro said. I could not help wondering what he was thinking.

"From what I have seen and from what Nahuel and Huilen have said, I have come to the conclusion that they seem to posses no threat of exposing us to the humans. I do need to confirm their claims, although I do believe they speak the truth. I see no reason to destroy these half-breeds or, as Athenodora to affectionately called them, _true_ vampire Children. If what they claim is true, we now have a wonderful new chapter to add to our history. What is it you think, my brothers?" Aro asked of the other two Lords.

"I agree with you, brother, I see no threat in them," Marcus answered, still sounding as if he just wanted it all to end.

"I see no threat from them or of exposure because of them, just as you said. However, I will feel more comfortable once you have surmised the complete truth in them. If you still see no threat any greater than any newborn vampires, then I also see no reason in destroying the half-breeds – " Caius cut himself off as his mate threw him a pointed glare. "I mean _true vampire Children_. However, I do believe that if what they say is true, then Johan needs to be destroyed." Caius said his piece to Aro, and I wondered how he was going to confirm my story. Every word I had spoken to them was truth, and knowing this sparked hope in me. Perhaps I had been wrong, and we would leave here with our lives.

Aro stood from his chair and paced his way over to us, reaching for Huilen's hand. "I would like to confirm your stories now. May I have your hand?" He may have been asking her politely, but we knew there was no refusing him. She raised her hand as if to shake it, and placed it into his.

Huilen let out a surprised gasped and i tensed, as her eyes seemed to glaze over. I looked on anxiously as the seconds ticked by, hoping she was not in any pain. Aro must have some kind of gift that showed him with only a touch if we were being truthful, I guessed. Every moment that went by felt like hours to me.

Before a minute had passed, Aro let go of Huilen's hand with a friendly smile. She blinked a few times after he released her, but she looked fine otherwise: no pain showing on her face, only a sort of surprised wonder.

"My brothers and trusted comrades, what our friend Huilen has told us is nothing but the truth," Aro announced to the room at large, a friendly smile still playing on his lips.

Aro then turned to me, his smile yet to having faded. "Nahuel, may I?" Aro asked as he raised his hand to me, just as he had done to Huilen. I knew just as I had before that the question of 'may I' was nothing but a politeness. I would have to let him use his gift on me.

I was too nervous to speak, so I nodded and raised my hand to place it in Aro's. I did not know what I had been expecting, but it was not what happened. I could see everything I had ever thought from the moment I could first think run through my mind. I could still see through the thoughts and sensations to perceive what was going on around me. So this was how he would know if we told them the truth: he could read minds. Not only that, he could see everything I had ever seen or thought in my life. I watched my thoughts with Aro as they came up to the exact moment we were living in now.

Aro released my hand only to place his on my shoulder. "My brothers and trusted guard. Everything Nahuel has said to us is nothing but the truth. It would seem we now have Children to welcome into our vampire family. What a happy day this is for our kind," Aro said to everyone with a jubilant smile still set on his face. It would seem all of my worries had been for nothing.

"Alas, it does seem we will have to destroy a new threat. I, like Nahuel and Caius, also believe he wished harm on us." The guard members in the room growled.

"Jane, could you please call the rest of the guard and tell them to ready themselves for the matter at hand? Thank you, dear."

Jane moved forward and bowed her head to Aro and his brothers. "Yes, Master, I would be too happy to gather them." Then she looked over at me. "Welcome to the vampire world, Nahuel," she said to me, all of her early disbelief and coldness gone.

"Nahuel, I would like to ask that you come with us when we go after Joham. The experiments on your sister alone would be grounds for his death. Once we have dealt with him, I would think your sisters and their families would be scared. Having you with us could help calm them and show them we mean them on harm. After he is gone, I think it would be wise to bring the Children from the island back here with us so that we can teach all of you about our world, and you can teach us about your world. That is, if they are willing. We will need to explain to them about keeping our kind a secret from humans, and what that entails too." I did not want to have to see my father destroyed first hand, but I knew Aro was right and it would be good for all of us to learn from the Volturi. "I also hope you and your aunt agree to stay with us for at least a small time after wards. It seems I'm not the only one here that would like to get to know you better."

I felt like I was floating now that I knew they would not kill us. It had only been a few hours ago that I had believed today would be my last day on earth. I would have never expected that coming here would end with my sisters and I being accepted and welcomed into the vampire world.

"Yes, Lord Aro, I believe you are right. And thank you."


	21. Chapter 21 Pheromones

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own.  
_

**Hello everyone,**

**Thank you all for your reviews of the last chapter and for the support you have give me throw out this story.  
_**

**Chapter 21: pheromones**

**Bella's pov: **

The roar of my truck's engine made me jump, since I had not driven it in two weeks. Up until today, Edward or Alice had always suddenly appeared whenever I needed to drive anywhere. But last night Edward had called, telling me that he and his family were going camping. It was a good thing, really, as I has started my monthly cycle and had mild cramps. I would have stayed in, but in all the confusion following the crash, I had been neglecting my friendship with Jake.

The weeks after the van incident had been turbulent to say the least. Just thinking about it made my mind spin back to relive everything as I drove the familiar road to the La Push.

_I was almost certain this was a dream, a dream I did not want to awake from. I was walking just within the forest that bordered the yard. Sun-rays came through the trees; the light warmed my skin. My skin sparkled gently as the radiance fell over it. I stopped to look down at my glimmering hand, fascinated.  
_

_ The wind suddenly picked up from the west, blowing the scent of lilac, and sun-flavored honey: Edward's distinct scent. Before I could even look away from my glimmering hand, Edward was there in front of me, his hand reaching up to caress my face.  
_

"_Beautiful," he whispered as he ran his hand along my cheek. His touch sparked the familiar electric current to run through me. His hands were soft, yet hard, cold, yet still able to leave a hot trail on my skin were we made contact.  
_

_His sensationally cold, yet hot touches, and his wonderfully familiar scent caused all kinds of new sensations to course through my body. My lower abdomen tensed, wetness pooled between my legs, my skin suddenly felt hyper-aware of every touch, and my breath quickened almost to the point of hyperventilation._

"_Edward," I whispered his name. I felt desperation taking hold of me; I need him, the man I loved, to be closer. Edward moved away, dropping his hands from my face. "Edward, please, don't go," I pleaded with him, reaching out to pull him close again.  
_

"_Love, don't fret. I don't think I can leave you anymore," he whispered, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me to him. I reached up and stroked his face with hesitant fingers, still wanting to be closer to him. Our eyes met, and I could see the love I was feeling reflected back at me in his eyes.  
_

"_Edward, I need…." I murmured, before realizing I did not know what I needed exactly. I just knew I needed us to be closer, though I didn't knowing how to do it. There was already no space between us.  
_

"_Bella, love, what do you need? I'll get it for you, whatever it is," his voice was a pleading whisper.  
_

"_You. Only you, Edward," I said as I ran my finger over his lower lip. Finally, he understood that I wanted his lips on mine. He pulled one of his arms from around my waist and mirrored my fingers' movement over his lower lips on mine, awareness alighting his face.  
_

_Edward inched his face closer to mine, as I raised myself up on to my toes to reciprocate. I moved my hand from where they were tracing his lips to wrap around his neck. My other arm rose from my side to join the other, while Edward moved his hand from my lips and tangled his fingers in my hair.  
_

_His lips met mine, and it felt like heaven, or home, or both at once. His lips, like his touch, were soft, yet hard like stone. So cold, but they grew steadily warmer from the contact with my own lips. The electricity that had seemed urgent when our lips fist meet was know crackling ecstatically between us. The onslaught of new feelings that were already running through my body intensified ten fold with his lip on mine.  
_

_His kiss, so light and innocent, filled the need for closeness. Only a moment later, the yearning to be closer to him gripped me once more.  
_

"_Edward," I breathily whispered, pulling slightly away. He must have felt this need as well; once my mouth had opened to call his name, he deepened our kiss by slipping his tongue between my parted lips, and exploring my mouth with his tongue. A moan almost escaped me at his taste: he tasted just as he smelled, only sweeter. In all my life, I had never tasted anything as good as him. His tongue was cold like the rest of him, as if he had been eating ice cubes, but the saliva in his mouth is not cold at all. It was a wonderful fire.  
_

_My body exploded with a raw need for him as we continued to kiss, exploring one another's mouths. I could not say how long our kiss was, it could have been hours or only seconds. Then he pulled away, leaning his forehead against mine, both of us breathing heavily.  
_

_Suddenly, there was a rubbing, cracking sound like wood on wood, making the dream world around me begin to fade, followed by a soft 'thudding' sound right outside my window. There was the sound like the wind rushing by at an incredibly fast velocity, and soft footsteps.  
_

_I jerked awake in my bed, still breathing heavily and shocked that I would have a dream like that. But I still wished that it had been real, and sad that I had awoken so abruptly. The dream seemed so real that as I lay there in the semi-darkness, I could almost taste Edward's scent on the air, like he had been here with me as I slept. But of course, I knew that could not have been. As my breathing slowed, I looked over at the alarm clock next to my bed. I had woken up almost two hours before I had to be up for school, so I rolled over on to my side and tried to sleep again. It didn't work very well.  
_

Looking back,perhaps I should have known my pheromones were starting to become active. Okay, so there was no 'perhaps' about it. If I had not been so wrapped up with what had happened with the crash, what with Edward's speed, our strength, my healing, wondering about the Cullen's' differences and then the dream, and looked at the date, it would have been easy to tell. I would have known I needed to stay home that day. My pheromones only ever lasted one day, and came on the same date every month, two weeks before my monthly visitor.

**Edward's POV:  
**

The wind felt like gentle kisses against my marble skin as I ran my fastest back to Forks, inexplicably anxious. We had decided to go on a family hunting trip for three days up at Goat Rocks Wilderness. After Carlisle had determined that Bella's menstruation would start two weeks after her body had released its pheromones, Rose thought we should not chance being around her as she was bleeding. Or rather, she felt I should not chance it after how I had reacted to her the last time, when she had just started school.

Alice knew from Bella's first week at school that her menstruation cycle had only lasted forty-eight hours, so I had only needed to stay away from Bella until Monday. Unfortunately for me, it was only Saturday morning. But… staying away from her was so very hard for me. Goat Rock was by on means far from Forks, but even being an hour away from her left me feeling anxious and worried. So after promising my family that I would stay away from her, they had let me return to Forks a little early.

As I ran, I let my mind wander over the weeks following the van crash and how much we had learned about Bella. My mind kept going over ever last detail, searching out any insignificant detail we might have missed.

After my brothers and I left the hospital, they had gone home. I, however, was longing to lay my eyes on Bella, at least to know that she was doing well. The memory of the first night I had gone to Bella's room to see her suddenly flooded to the front of my mind, over-taking it.

_ I argued with myself as I ran through the forest surrounding Forks after leaving the hospital. It was just after midnight when my less noble side won the argument, and I turned towards Bella's house. I had given in to my plan to sneak into Bella's room and check on her. Bella's house was dark and quiet; her truck was parked against the curb, her father's police cruiser sat ominously in the driveway. Before approaching her house, I checked for any conscious thoughts in the vicinity, finding none.  
_

_I sat in the tree just outside her bedroom window, listening to her even, slow breathing and her fast heart rate. Disgust filled me as I thought about what I was just about to do: I was no better than a Peeping Tom, really. Not better than _Tyler._ Once I realized just how awful my plan was, I knew I could not go into her room.  
_

"_Sunny," Bella's sleeping murmur shattered the overwhelming quiet.  
_

_ Bella talked in her sleep! My curiosity flared, overpowering my disgust. The temptation of her unshielded unconsciously spoken thoughts lured me throw her window.  
_

_I knew from when I had installed her curtains that she did not lock her windows. The window stuck slightly, due to not being opened in so long, the wood grinding as the windows rubbed against one another, but it opened eventually.  
_

_ I slipped in through the window and looked around the room. It looked just as I had seen it last time. The ache and need I had been feeling since she left with her father this morning left me at the sight of her sleeping face.  
_

_She was beautiful there, lying on her back, tangled in her patchwork quilt. Even the old, faded tank top and sweat pants with holes dotted all over them could not take away from how stunning she was.  
_

_Before I knew what I was doing, my body drew me to her bedside. I sat silently on the wooden floor next to where her head lay on the pillow. She looked so at peace in her sleep. I loved to see her this way.  
_

_She had changed me so much, I realized. She had made it possible for the sun to rise now, in the middle of my midnight. Before she had come into my life, it was an unending, unchanging night, like it must be for all of my kind. But whenever I was with her, the sun chased out the night, allowing me to live in the blessed daylight. My hand rose to her face without my consent, wishing to touch the light that was my Bella. My fingers lightly brushed over her soft skin.  
_

"_Beautiful," I whispered, unable to stop myself from saying it out loud. At the sound of my whisper, Bella turned in her sleep to face me, a small gracing her lips.  
_

"_Edward," Bella's voice murmured out so clearly that for a moment I worried that she had woken. I needed to leave before she did wake to find me there, sitting beside her in the dead of night. I quickly got to my feet and handed for the window.  
_

"_Edward, please, don't go," Bella's voice pleaded behind me, rooting me to the spot. I was too late: I must have woken her. Slowly, I turned back around to face her anger at my inexcusable behavior.  
_

_ I raised my eyes shamefacedly to look into hers, but her eyes remained closed. She was still asleep. My relief only lasted a split second though, as her innocent smile left her face. Her smile was replaced with an expression of pain as she reached her hand out towards me. It looked like she was trying to pull something to her. Was the dream version of me she was seeing leaving, or did she really not want me to go?  
_

_ I quickly made my way back and sat down just as I had before. I would do anything to ease the pain she seemed to be in now. Bella reached her hand out again and gripped the sleeve of my shirt inhumanly tightly.  
_

_ "Love, don't fret. I don't think I can leave you anymore," I whispered in desperation, grasping at anything to ease her pain. My words were true though. I could never leave her now. She was human, but so different from any other human out there. Not just because everything about her was enhanced, much like a vampire. No, she was selfless, kind, and loving. She was good. So simple, yet so rare.  
_

_ Bella let out a small sigh as I spoke, the pain in her face easing, to my relief. Her grip on my sleeve did not loosen; no, she was pulling on me, pulling me closer to her, until she was laying her hand on my arm. My long-dead heart swelled: she wanted me here with her! _

_ "Edward, I need…." she murmured plaintively. I was on edge waiting to know what it was she wanted. Anything, anything at all was hers if she asked for it. I would stop at nothing to give it to her. Why…. _why_ had she not said what it was she needed? My frustration over her silent mind flaring stronger than ever before, that I could not simply read her mind to know what she needed.  
_

"_Bella, love, what do you need? I'll get it for you, whatever it is," I pleaded hoping she would voice what ever it was. My frustration flared again just as strongly as before as she remained silent.  
_

"_You. Only you, Edward," she eventually whispered into my arm. Could a cold dead heart beat again? Because it felt like mine would at her words. What she needed was me. But she already had that: could she really not see that?  
_

_I let out the long breath I had been holding; no, she couldn't. I had not yet declared my feeling for her. How could I declare myself to her when I had so many secrets that I was unable to share with her?  
_

_Bella let go of my sleeve, settling into her dream once more. How I wished I could fall into her dream with her. Be in a place the two of us could live a happy, uncomplicated life together.  
_

_I would need to tell her that I loved her; she deserved that even if I could not tell her the truth about myself. I knew that the moment she learned of what I am, she would run from me. Could I let her go, if she truly wanted that?  
_

_Yes. For her, I could, but I would always be watching from afar, make sure she was happy and safe.  
_

_ I looked over at the clock on Bella's nightstand. It was almost 5:00 AM, and I needed to leave before her father got up. I reluctantly lifted Bella's hand from my arm and placed it back on her pillow.  
_

_ She called out my name as I did so, making it even harder to leave. But I knew I must. I would be seeing her soon, as I was planning on picking her up for school. I had heard Charlie thinking that he did not want her driving her truck until someone could look it over. If it was up to me, and if Bella would have allowed it, I would have just gotten her a new car altogether, but I knew Bella would never have let me._

_With one last look at her enchanting face, I left through her window just as she started to stir, and ran as fast as I could towards home.  
_

I had planned to take Bella to my meadow after school, but between Alice's visions of Charlie speaking to Carlisle, and her pheromones, I was unable to do so. Her pheromones had been quite a test for me, to say the very least.

My siblings had opted to take Rose's car to school so I could have Bella to myself the first time I accompanied her to school. The pull I always felt towards her doubled as I drove that day. I had thought it was because I was planning on telling her how I felt about her after school, and in truth that may have been a part of it, but the other piece had been her pheromones slowing sneaking up on us. Consideration of this caused the vivid memory to flood my mind.

_I monitored the thoughts of the children in Bella's first class of the day, watching her through them, along with checking to see if any of them had noticed anything regarding yesterday's incident. Bella and I had been a couple for too long for them to question that I would not have been with her. They had simply chalked it up to simply not seeing me there. I would need to check as many of their minds as I could throughout the day to see if we would need to do any kind of damage control. Luckily, it seemed this was not to be the case.  
_

'_Edward…Edward…EDWARD!' Alice mentally shouted at me, and I reluctantly gave Alice my full attention. I looked over at her, letting her know she had my undivided action. The second my eyes met hers, I knew that whatever it was, she needed my assistance.  
_

_ She allowed the vision she had just had of Charlie asking to speak to Carlisle, to replay for me. Unfortunately, Carlisle had not been at the hospital at the time and Charlie had simply left. Why would Charlie go to the hospital look for Carlisle? We both asked ourselves. Alice immediately decided to call Carlisle and tell him to go to the hospital to intercept Charlie.  
_

_ Another vision hit her as soon as this decision was made, and this time they met in Carlisle's office. Charlie thanked him for his help with Bella at the scene yesterday. Then her vision went foggy. It would seem Charlie had more to say but had yet to decide whether of not to say it. In the fog of Charlie's indecision, he said he thought he could trust Carlisle with his secrets about Bella. Once Alice finished her vision, we knew that we needed to act fast; this could be our chance to finally understand why Bella is so different from everyone else.  
_

_ "Mr. Varner?" Alice raised her hand and simultaneously called to him, interrupting his lesson. Mr. Varner's thoughts became frantic and ecstatic at Alice's interruption. He'd been hoping that finally, he had caught one of the perfect Cullen's being rude. I could not keep the smirk off my face as Alice continued. "May I be excused? I seem to have found myself with… girl troubles." Although Alice could never have true 'girl troubles', no man in his right mind would decline that request. Not even Mr. Varner, who surly believed we were all somehow cheating. No student could be smarter then he was in his mind.  
_

_ I kept my mind open to Alice as she left to call Carlisle. However, in another part of my mind, I was making my own plans to go to the hospital, not just to hear what Charlie was going to say, important as that was, but to know what he was thinking.  
_

_I knew leaving would be a risk. I felt obligated to read the minds of the students. Between the van crash and the visit my bothers and I had made to Tyler last night, there was a lot of human curiosity floating around. Newton must have told others about our visit, given that he was there. Yet I had not seen anything about it in anyone's minds thus far.  
_

_I just barley made up my mind to tell Bella that I had a dentist appointment and that I would be back in time to take her home, when Alice's mind delved into yet another vision.  
_

_A large crowd, consisting mainly of adolescent boys, surrounded Bella's locker. Several of the adolescent boys reaching out to Bella's locker, each trying to block the other from doing the same. Suddenly Emmett and Rose pushed their way through the crowd. 'Back off! ' Emmett let out a deep growl I hadn't heard since he fed last. __I had never seen Emmett like this in public. What on earth was wrong with him? My mind reeled as I continued to watch Alice's vision. _

_Emmett could not seem to keep his hands off of Rose. I watched as his hand grabbed her by the wrist, and quickly pulled her to him. As he continued toward the center of the crowd his hands traveled from her shoulder to her lower back. It was almost indecent the way Emmett was running his hands over her. He carried himself with such an aggressive sensuality as to push back the crowd._

"_Bella!" Jessica called through the crowd, as she made her way around Emmet and Rose. "Oh, so how are you feeling after the crash and all?"'_

_As Alice vision went on, Jessica looking like she was talking to herself about the van incident yesterday. She was bringing up how she had only seen Bella standing there, and wasn't it a miracle that I had been there to save her? Unfortunately, the other children all began saying they had not seen me with her either, leading to some unwanted questions about how no one had seen me standing next to her. __Though Bella, as always, could not be seen in the vision, all of this simply indicated that the vision had been about her._

_ Before the vision could even come to an end, I knew I could not leave Bella here alone to face such a mob of fiends. I would just have to watch Alice's visions as they continued to unfold. As I made my own decision, Alice's vision came to a stop and vanished. _

_ 'Sorry Edward, it looks like you're going to have to stay here.' Alice's mental voice resounded clearly in my head and I could hear the apologetic tones. We had both hoped to have the advantage of my hearing Charlie's thoughts at the hospital. Suddenly, I had to push Alice's vision of Charlie and Carlisle to the back of my mind to monitor as many male, unwelcome mental voices hit me from Bella's English class. _

_ 'Oh, man… Bella looks so hot today, but she'd look even better naked and under me.' _

_Mike's thoughts caused rage to fill me from head to toe. Had my brothers and I not made ourselves clear last night? Apparently not, and now we would need to teach this child a lesson. My fury took over my mind almost to the point of losing contact with Alice's mind completely, as other thoughts emanating from Bella class made their way to me. How I wished I could stop them but no, they came to my mind uninvited, like flies to honey. Each thing I heard about my Bella caused my anger to grow exponentially. I shook my head in hopes of thinking clearly, even for just a second._

'_Too young, she's too young for me... Jail-bait. But look at you, what a naughty little girl you are Miss Swan. Don't you think you'd like it just a little bit, baby? Stop that! She's just too young!" _

_This first thought set me on edge; I felt my fists clench beneath the puny wooden desk. _

"_Bella would. She'd leave him for me. I just need to get the chance to ask her. I just can't stop thinking about how good her ass looks in those jeans!" _

"_Man, how did Cullen get this goddess? I could make her feel things he's never even thought of. I mean, I would do the dirtiest things to that girl."_

"_Bella, I love you. Oh, I love you too Eric, I never wanted Edward anyway. Please make love to me… Oh fuck." _

_I could not help the growl that escaped my lips at hearing Eric's repulsive fantasies of Bella. Bella is MY mate, MY love, and no man but me will hear this word from her. My self-control failed me as a growl escaped me. It came louder than I expected, and people turned and looking out the windows to look for a possible explanation of the noise. I reprimanded myself and knew I should be more careful than that. A few of the students wondered rather loudly if a mountain lion had wandered too close to the school. I could hear Rose, Emmett and Jasper in my head, all finding excuses to leave their respective classes and congregate in the hallway. Alice had gone to the Volvo; she was too lost in her vision to leave the Volvo just yet. This commotion allowed me to slip quietly out the door of the classroom unnoticed._

_ I walked at a quick human pace down the hallway to where the English classes were, the thoughts of her classmates sounding over and over again in my head. I reached the door to Bella's classroom just as the bell sounded, signaling the end of first period. This was good, seeing as I was about to rip the godforsaken door clean off its hinges and yank her from her English class that very second._

_The classroom door opened and her scent came pouring out into the hill like an invisible fog. Her scent was stronger then I had ever smelled it before, yet it was subtly different. It enveloped me, drawing me to her. Overwhelming desire took hold of me, but not for her blood. No, this was a desire to make her mine in all senses of the word. I wanted to pledge my eternal devotion to her, hold her, kiss her, and make love to her. _

_I was suddenly caught up in my own fantasy about her. Bella on her father's arm gliding toward me in an immaculate white wedding dress. She and I pledging our true love and devotion for one and other in front of our families. I dreamt of quietly pulling Bella into my arms and carrying her over the threshold, setting her down on our honeymoon bed and slowly making love to her for the first time. The mere thought filled me with desire; my body was rising up to make love to her now._

_Bella stepped out, followed by the rest of the students. Upon seeing her, I instantly extended my arms towards her and drew her to my chest. I felt so little control, like nothing else mattered. _

_ She looked up at me with her eyes full of trust and love… or did I just long to see love for me in her eyes? Her gaze, her scent, caused a physical desire to overwhelm me; I needed to feel her soft, hot lips on my cold, hard ones. I needed to run my hands over her skin. I wanted to be inside of her to fill her, to feel her around me in the most intense of ways. I needed to hear her call my name as I brought her pleasure and needed to call out hers as I released myself inside of her. _

_ The thoughts of the plethora male, human children surrounding us started to infiltrate my mind as they looked on at the two of us. I could hear each of them silently replacing me with mental images of themselves. A protective growl rumbled deep in my chest, too quiet for any human other than Bella to hear. I glared over her head at the slimy children thinking all of those revolting thoughts about her. I could feel her turn her head to see just were my gaze was landing, pointing her own eyes at the children I was sending silent death threats to with my eyes. _

"_Edward, what's wrong?" Bella's sweet and concerned voice whispered to me. She reached up and put her hand on my cheek. I leaned into to her soft gentle touch, loving the feel of it. _

_ "Teenage boys have such vulgar minds: it disgusts me. All of them are undressing you in their minds. Oh, how I would love to take you away from them, keep you from their disgusting stares," I whispered to her. Could she not see the way the male children were staring at her? It did not take being a mind reader to see where their thoughts were. _

_ Bella turned her gaze to those repugnant boys, and then looked up into my eyes several times. Every time her eyes met mine, I could see some unknown question behind them. I let out a human-level growl of frustration. Would it ever become easier not know her thoughts? _

_ "Oh, Edward," Bella said 'Thank you… I wish… there was some way…or something I could do to help you…. like you do for me all the time." Bella's quiet voice sounded vulnerable, and sad. She pulled me closer to her as she whispered, and as she pulled me closer, a strange and comforting feeling seemed to wrap around me. It seemed to be emanating from Bella._

_ 'I'm home,' I heard Bella say. Yes, I too feel more at home with her in my arms than anywhere my family and I had ever called home before._

'_We're so close, but I still want to be closer to you, my Edward.' I pulled her closer still to my chest, resting my head on top of hers as a response to her plea. _

'_Oh, that's better. No, no, stop that, he is not yours.' Her tone was suddenly chastising. 'He is just trying to help you.' My breath came out in a loud gasp. Bella had not voiced anything of this aloud. No, I was hearing her magical, beautiful mind voice somehow for the first time. The voice I had longed to hear for weeks filled me now with such satisfaction and pleasure I could hardly keep myself from grinning like an adolescent fool. _

'_He could never really love me,' she continued sternly to herself. Never love her…! That was the most absurd thing I had heard in all of my existence! How could I not love this selfless, caring, mystifying girl? The mere thought was blasphemy. How could my Bella not know how I truly feel about her? _

'_Not like I love him at least.' My mind and body froze as I head her last thought. An emotion I could not put a name to filled me. It was stronger then anything I had ever felt before, some strange combination of love, hope, joy, and despair. She loved me as I loved her! I was instantly fulfilled. My mind and body slowly unfroze and I lifted my head from hers. I unwrapped one of my arms from around her and placed my hand under her chin, raising her face upwards so I could look into her eyes. Having her thoughts open to me seemed to make it easier to push the vulgar boys' thought to the back of my mind. All I wanted was to fill my mind with her. _

_Our eyes were locked and she still had not voiced any of the thoughts running through her mind. 'Oh, Edward, is that love I see in your eyes? No, be quiet, how could a handsome, strong, noble, caring, interesting, talented, and perfect-at-everything man like Edward ever love me? Whereas I'm… well, I have no idea, other then plain next to him.' She could see the love I have for her in my eyes. Why does she dismiss it? How could she see me as _noble_, as _caring_? How could she not see that she was the one who was all of those things, and so much more? _

_I could hear Jasper's need to leave because of the overwhelming lust coming off everyone in the hall, and he left to take shelter by the car. I could hear how Emmett wanted to persuade Rose to take the rest of the day off with him, as he took in Bella's scent. Why her scent was making his lust for Rose unmanageable, I did not know. I could hear Rose berating me in her thoughts for acting the way I was with Bella, but I couldn't bring myself to care. _

_Everything outside of Bella and myself no longer held meaning for me as I took in a larger breath of Bella's scent, her flavor washing over my taste buds. I needed to taste her. Not her blood, but her lips, her skin, her just her. I leaned down to rest my forehead ageants hers and ran my nose along hers, smelling her, taking her scant in, the lust I had been feeling taking me over completely. 'Oh, Edward, yes, that feels so right, please don't stop.' Bella mind called out to me. Oh, her mental voice was like heaven. I was just about to bring our lips together when Rose's thoughts brought me up short._

"_Edward, stop _right_ now. Look at what you're doing. Do you want your and Bella's first kiss to be in the middle of the school hallway with almost all of the students looking on? Do you want your first kiss to be partially instigated by her overpowering pheromones? That would be like getting your first kiss while the other person was drunk." _

_Rose's thoughts filled my head and allowed me to regain my self-control. I locked all of my muscles down to stop myself from kissing Bella. Overpowering pheromones, yes, that was the slight difference in Bella's scent. She was emitting pheromones due to her human female cycle. Her body was calling males everywhere to her so she could reproduce, something I could never do with her: have a child. _

_ I knew from her thoughts that she yearned for our first kiss as much as I did. But Rose's words made me worried that later on; this spur-of-the-moment kiss would be something she regretted. Could I truly be the right man for her when her body was calling out so powerfully to reproduce? _

_ As I resisted the urge to kiss her, I felt something change. The beautiful words that filled my head seemed harder to hear, as if quieter, or somehow farther away. Then her beautiful mind-voice was gone altogether. I tried in vain to recreate it in my head, to get back to her mind somehow. She tensed up in my arms and looked around uneasily before she slowly relaxed again. It was as if she had been looking for some invisible danger, only to find none. Had she been able to sense my tension? _

_ Rose untangled Emmett's arms from around her, disregarding his frustrated protestations. As Rose began making her way over to us, I moved to stand next to Bella, holding her waist. I could not make myself let go of her completely. _

_ "Bella, I think you should go home for the rest of the day. Your body seems to be letting out very strong pheromones, and that seems to be affecting the boys," Rose whispered too low and quickly for any of students to hear except for Bella, Emmett and I. _

_Bella let out a gasp of understanding, and sadness crossed her eyes. "Oh, I should have realized. Everyone's been acting so… strange," Bella whispered just as low and fast as Rose had. All of a sudden, Bella raised her right hand to her head and letting out a groan. Worry took ahold of me; was she hurt, ill, in pain? "Bella, love, what's wrong?" I asked, desperate to help ease what ever was ailing her._

_ She turned to look at me and winked. At her wink I understood she was not ill, hurt, or in pain. She was simply looking for a reason to go home for the rest of the day without raising any suspicion of her motives. "Edward, my headache is back. Maybe I should go home, Carlisle said I should take it easy if it started to hurt." I took her tiny, but miraculously warm hand in mine and lead her to the school parking lot. The others would take care of everything else._

I slowed my run to a near-human pace as I neared my meadow. It had been hard, that day, to release Bella from my arms and let Rose drive her home. I growled a frustrated growl. In all the confusion of the day, I had missed Alice's vision. Earlier, I had gone to the woods next to Bella's house, and in an effort not to be seen, I hid myself between the trees. I sat there for many hours as a kind of guard to Bella's house. None of those vulgar, vapid teenage boys needed to come knocking on my Bella's door. Not if I had anything to say about it.

I had only been at Bella's for about three hours when Alice, being the thoughtful sister she was, took mercy on me and ran out to replay the visions she had of Carlisle and Charlie for me. The visions left me shocked; there really was no other why to describe it.

I threw myself down in the wet grass and flowers of my meadow, looking up into the cloudy sky. Though I had let almost two weeks pass us by, I had yet to confess my love to Bella. I still planned on bringing her here to do so. My cowardice infuriated me.

Also infuriating, I had not been able to access her thoughts since that day. I had talked it over dozens of times with my family, but none of us had, had any idea what had caused this sudden shift. All I had were those few precious moments of her, and then nothing. Alice had been fascinated, and had wondered if this meant that her talent would work on her sometimes too.

But it hadn't happened since. There was nothing to be done. Bella was, even now with my glimpse of her mind and our new information from Charlie, just as big of a mystery as she ever was.  
_

**~A/N~**

**The next Chapter will be out in little over a mouth sorry about that. **

** I will not be doing this chapter from Bella POV: because the next few chapter she will think back on it from time to time. So I will be moving the story on.**

**Thank you for reading and I hope you liked this chapter.**

**Amberfire1**


	22. Chapter 22 My Furry Friend

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own.  
_

**Hello everyone,**

**Thank you all for your reviews of the last chapter and for the support you have give me throw out this story.**

Chapter 22: My Furry Friend

Bella's POV:

I looked around at the natural splendor and tranquility of the mile-long crescent of beach. The tranquility however, seemed lost to Jake. The pressure and heat I felt when he had grabbed my hand and pulled me to him had not subsided yet. He had opened the door and the tension inside the house had been palpable. It must have come from the argument he and Billy had been having as I'd driven up. I could hear over the dull roar of my engine that they were arguing about Sam. Jake had told me he had misgivings about Sam, and it would seem he and Billy was still at odds over him.

Jake and I were the only people out on the beach. This somehow made the sound of the slow waves washing over the expanse of sand even more soothing. Further in, just off the sand, laid a stretch smooth stones of all different colors: Terra-cotta, lavender, blue, sea green, dull gold, pink and a million different shades of gray.

Jake seemed to be leading the way to one of the huge bone-white driftwood trees. The tree had obviously been on First Beach for hundreds of years: the sea air and water had bleached it until it resembled an enormous skeletal hand. There were lots of them, these fallen giants, strewn over the shoreline, some lying solitary and others piled together, fringing the edge of the forest.

As I continued gazing out over First Beach, I started to wonder if I had been wrong, and Jake was not leading me to one of the driftwood trees. But perhaps he just needed to walk off his anger and frustration and we would end up somewhere different altogether. Just as the thought entered my mind, Jake abruptly stopped in front of a tree whose trunk twisted up out of the ground, gnarled and ancient. He sat without a word onto the trunk and sighed heavily. Leaning back against the tree with his eyes closed, I could nonetheless still feel the anger coming off of him, but at least it looked like he had stopped shaking. When I had arrived at his house and knocked on the door, he had been too mad to speak, and had grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the beach. I wanted so much to ask him if there was anything I could do to help, but I could see he was still to frustrated to talk. When he was ready, he would say something.

I sighed inwardly and took a seat next to him, looking out at the dark gray water. The water matched the steely tones resonating from the sky, and it gave the whole beach a rather morose feeling. Small, vividly green islands were peppered around a larger island not too far off in the harbor. I wondered if the lager of the island was used for anything. It looked like maybe people would camp there from time to time.

"James' Island," Jake's tense voice said, as if he was reading my mind. Reading my mind… Just thinking the words made my thoughts wander back to a situation from about two weeks ago, when I had first stated to think that somehow, Edward could read minds.

_"Grrrr…" Was that Edward? I wondered about the sound of the deep growl, whose source didn't seem that far off, as if it was in the math building, and Edward has math right now. Why would Edward be growling? I looked around to see if anyone but me in my class had heard it. What the hell? Why are all the boys in class looking at me like they wanted to eat me? It would seem that no one but me had heard the growl. Honestly, that was to be expected really. Only mine, and, well, the Cullens' hearing is really good, I reminded myself. _

_I lifted my eyes from the book the class was reading from to see if any of the guys in my class had looked away from me. Damn, their eyes were all still locked on me. How much longer _was_ this class? This was getting a little too awkward. I looked up at the clock. Ten more minutes left. Wow, sometimes it feels like the clock's going backwards. _

_ Is that Edward out in the hall? I wondered to myself; I had heard footsteps. Yes. It _was_ Edward. But why is out of class? I had to admit to myself it was tiny bit pathetic that I could distinguish his footsteps from others. Yet even though I knew it was pathetic, I was relieved and happy knowing he would be outside the door when we were released from class. I turned to look at my classmates; the stares were getting beyond uncomfortable now. _

_ I looked up at he clock again and breathed a sigh of relief. Only nineteen seconds until the bell was to ring. With that in mind, I put away my things and started to get out of my seat so I could get the hell out of there as soon as the bell signaled the end of the period. The bell rang and I rushed out, away from the strange stares of my classmates. _

_ I pulled the classroom door open and my eyes fell onto Edward at once. He had a look of almost-bliss on his face as he breathed in deeply. Just looking at him eased the apprehension I had been feeling throughout class. I knew he would keep me safe. He must have sensed my unease because the moment I stepped out of the class, he extended his arm to me, as if offering me a safe harbor. _

_ As soon as I was within his reach he pulled me to safety. His right hand pulled me to his chest and he wrapped his strong arms around me. Locked in his embrace, all of the uncertainty I had been feeling washed away. 'God, how I loved this man,' kept running through my mind as I looked up into his eyes. He looked into mine and again I was lost in the feelings of love and safety. The look in his eyes made me wonder if he loved me too, or if it was my love, reflecting back at me. _

_ Edward's eyes slowly beginning to turn almost black, as some kind of hunger mingled in with the first emotion I'd seen in his eyes. 'What is that hunger I'm seeing?' I wondered, careful not to let my inquiry show on my face. Suddenly, I understood what the hunger must mean as I felt Edward's manhood pressing into my abdomen, and my dream from last night flashed through my mind. Did he just want me physically? Or did he feel the way I did about him? _

_ I was pulled from reliving my dream as Edward's almost silent growls vibrated through me. He pulled his eyes from mine, looking off over my shoulder with a look of pure hatred on his face. _

"_Edward, what's wrong?" I whispered to him in concern. I reached up and placed my hand on his cheek in the hope that it would calm him down. _

_"Teenage boys have such vulgar minds: it disgusts me. All of them are undressing you in their minds. Oh, how I would love to take you away from them, keep you from their disgusting stares." He whispered to me in a way so matter-of-fact that I could not help but wonder if he could read minds. _

After that day I noticed more and more that Edward would answer a question before someone would finish. He would sometimes give one of his siblings a certain kind of look that would make them roll their eyes, even when they hadn't done anything. He seemed to do this with almost everyone except me. This left me wondering if I was right that day in the hallway. Maybe Edward really could read minds. Well, everyone's except mine seemed to be the case.

My memories and musings swept through my mind in less then a second, too short of a time for Jake to pick up that I had left the here and now. I looked over at him with an uneasy, small hope that I did not have two possible mind readers on my hands.

"Can you read minds now, Jake?" I giggled, and then knocked my shoulder into his playfully, trying to laugh off my uneasiness.

Jake rolled his eyes at me and laughed at my question. "Oh, yeah, Bells, didn't I tell you? I'm really a comic book superhero," He said, voice dripping with sarcasm. He rolled his eyes at me again. I was glad to see that my off-the-wall question seemed to lighten his mood. "Well, seeing as I'm not a mind reader, how have you been? I haven't seen you since I checked out the truck for you. How are things with you and your… _'boyfriend'_?" Jake asked, using air quotes as he said boyfriend, despite the fact that he was one of the only people who knows that Edward and I weren't really together; as much as I wished we were.

I looked up at the darkening sky, letting out a deep sigh of my own. If I was being truthful with myself, part of the reason I had come to see Jake was that I was hoping to get away from my never-ending thoughts of Edward. I had been hoping to instead help Jake out with his problems, yet here I was being asked about the exact thing I'd been running from in the first place.

"Oh, come on, Bells, what's up?" Jake asked, as he bumped his shoulder into mine playfully. "What's got you down? Hey, you're the one always telling me to talk to you about my problems here at the rez. I mean, if you can be objective about all that, then I can definitely be the outside listener when it comes to Edward and school and stuff." Jake's voice had lost all of its playfulness, now taking on a lighter, more understanding tone.

Jake was right. I needed someone outside this drama to vent to. As much as I wanted to ask Alice or Rose for their advice about Edward, I didn't think I could: they were his sisters, not just my friends. So I knew that there was no way for either one of them to be truly objective. Alice would definitely want us to start dating for real, and Rose would tell me to do whatever I wanted, as long as I was happy. But I knew she secretly agreed with Alice.

I couldn't seem to take my eyes off the sky as I mulled over what I could say to Jake, and what I could not. "You like him, don't you Bells? You just don't know how he feels about you." Jake said, his voice holding a good lot of the sort of patience you would expect to hear used on a petulant child in it. How could Jake just know what I was thinking?

"Oh, so you _are_ a mind reader then," I joked, trying to sound somewhat playful again, and failing miserably.

"No, I just know you, Bells. I could tell you were falling for him from the start. It just took you some time to figure it out yourself," Jake said it as if it was the must obvious thing in the world.

"I haven't liked him for as long as you would think Jake, and I'm not just falling for him. I'm in love with him. I… _just_… I don't see how he could feel the same. He is just way too_ good, _and_ kind_ for someone as plain as me. He stepped in before he even knew me to help me with Tyler; his letting everyone think we're together just so they'd leave me alone. Then, whenever I need someone, he's right there. He even _risked his life_ to pull me out of the way of Tyler's van before it killed me." Well, not that I could tell Jake, but it was so more of a risk that people could have seen that he was… well, unusual. He was so different from any other person. "Not to mention he's beyond good looking." That may have been the biggest understatement I had ever made in my life; he looked more like a Greek god than a Greek god would. "Sometimes I think he may return at least some of my feelings, but at other times he seems so distant." Or at least he had in the last two weeks. He'd been going from pulling me close one second, to keeping me at arm's length the other. "And I'm just too much of a coward to tell him how I feel. What if he only sees me as a friend, and me telling him how I feel makes him uncomfortable and he stops wanting to see me at all?"

"Stop. Wow, just stop, Bella." Jake cut off my long-winded tirade, and threw up his hands. "You're doubting yourself way too much."

"No, I'm not…." I started to say.

"Bellaaaaa," Jake groaned, shaking his head and interrupting me again. "You are all of those things too. You are a caring and a kind-hearted person. And you are must definitely _not_ plain. You may, in fact, be one of the most beautiful girls I've ever known." He said, without a shred of embarrassment. I silently considered telling him he needed his eyes checked, but the words were lost when I looked in to his eyes, I could tell he was being truthful.

I must have had some kind of panicked look on my face because Jake continued: "You know, if you didn't feel just like a sister to me, I'd probably be after you in a heart beat. So stop doubting your self. I bet this guy is just as concerned as you are that if he were to let you know how he feels about you, you may not want to be with him. No guy is going to go along with telling everyone that he's dating a girl if he's not at least a little bit interested in her. Much less risk his life for her. Someone has to make the first move, after all. You know I'm right Bells," Jake said with a big smile on his face. It seemed as if the sun shone right through him. I hoped what he was telling me could be true. God, how I wanted it to be.

"I hope you're right, but I don't know how to even go about telling him how I feel, Jake. Truth be told, I'm just too much of a wuss to make the first move." I heard my voice betray the true frustration I was feeling as I looked down at my shoelaces.

Jake burst out laughing, and I snapped my head up and looked at him. I certainly hadn't expected laughter, not from him.

"I bet the reason he 'seems almost distant' as you said, is that he's trying to work up to telling you how he feels about you. So I don't think you need to worry about being a coward Bells. He's just as big of one. It's so obvious! I can't believe you didn't see it. It just how guys work, trust me," Jake reassured me through his laughter.

"I'm glad my troubles and I amuse you, Jake." I glared at him, still annoyed that he seemed to find all of this rather funny. "I'm done talking about this with you."

"Okay, so if we're not talking about your 'boyfriend', then tell me how the search is going for the ever-mysterious aunt," Jake suggested, still half-laughing at me. I inwardly growled: how annoying it could be that Jake could find the two subjects weighing most heavily on my mind and bring them up in no time flat.

I was frustrated at myself, was what it all came down to it. I wanted to know everything I could about my aunt. Mainly because I didn't understand why I couldn't seem to push away the feeling that she was somehow missing from my life. I had spent hours wondering why a woman I'd never met was able to make me want to cry.

"Um… I found a little bit about her, like how she died and that she was really smart and stuff. The yearbook I found in the school library said that everyone called her and my parents 'The Three Musketeers'. On the Seniors' Plans Page, it said that they were all going to travel in Europe together after graduation. I don't think they ended up going though. My parents have never mentioned they'd ever been. Not that they've ever told me about her either…." Okay, so I could see Charlie not telling me he went to Europe, but Renee, she loved talking about her adventures. If she had been, she certainly would have told me. "Last week I went to Forks Cemetery and I found her grave." I trailed off there, because just thinking about seeing her grave left me feeling like I would cry all over again, like I had when I found her grave for the first time.

Jake looked at me, and I could tell he knew better than to push the idea further. I sigh quietly, "Let's just lay here and watch the clouds, I don't really feel like talking about it anymore." He reclined against the tree, and I laid my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat against his ribcage.

"So, do you wont to talk about what you and Billy were arguing about when I showed up?" I asked him hesitantly in just above a whisper.

Jake let out a deep sigh "We were argue about Sam again. I just don't get it, Bells. Our tribe doesn't have a Chief, but my dad's always kind of been one anyway, or at least heads up the Council of Elders. His grandfather was the last true Chief of our tribe." Jake paused and seemed deep in though for a moment.

"Well, anyways. About a year ago, Sam went missing for almost three weeks and everyone was out looking for him when he just showed back up acting totally weird. So the Council insisted on having a one-on-one meeting with him to find out what was going on with. They were pissed that he just took off like that and then not tell anyone what had happened." Jake stopped talking again and after a minute I lifted my head off his chest to see a look of confusion on his face. I adjusted myself so that I was leaning my back on the tree we had been sitting on.

"What is it Jake? Let me the objective one now," I said, knowing he really did need to get whatever all this was off his chest. Jake sat up and leaned himself on the tree next to me and looked out at the waves breaking on the sand.

" It's…. it's just strange, Bells. After the first meeting, he started to go to all of the Council meetings, and unless you're _on_ the Council, you can't go. So they must have asked him to be part of the Council, and he's only just twenty-three. No one is ever asked to be part of the console until they're at lest thirty-five. So why are the letting Sam in on it, especially after they were so pissed at him? Hell knows when there's something going on they seek his and his gang out."

"Gang?" I interrupted incredulously. How the hell could La Push have it's own gang?

"It's not what you think, Bells, trust me. They're more like overrated hall monitors or something. Not a real gang, it's just what I call them. Though they do seem to get pissed off easily. Well, at first it was just Sam. Then a kid that I used to hang with from time to time, named Jared, went missing like Sam had, just not for as long. When he came back, he was suddenly always with Sam. Then Paul pulled a disappearing act, and, like Jared, when he came back he was always with Sam. I just let it all slide off my back at first." Jake let out a frustrated sigh.

"Then Sam stated looking at me funny, like he was just waiting for me to join his weird little posse or something. He even asked me what I would do if I found out some guys were trying to pass drugs here. Why the hell wound he ask me something like that?" I opened my mouth to ask what he would have done, and if Sam did anything about the guy, but Jake held up his hand.

"Before you can ask, I told him to call your dad and have the guy picked up," Jake answered my unspoken question, his tone of voice telling me that I should have already known the answer.

"Even with Sam acting weird around me, I tried to just let it roll off me, but then one of my best friend, Embry disappeared, and when he came back he was acting like one of Sam lapdogs too. I asked him what the hell was going on. He had hated Sam and his gang ever since he bumped into Paul and them and they acted like it was all his fault. Now he won't even talk to me, like I'm the one who went off or something. It just doesn't make sense." Jake got up and started pacing around in front of me.

"After that, I asked Dad what was going on, and why Sam was being so respected by the Council and everything. What had he told them about his wandering off and going missing for so long? And… let's just say Billy was no help at all. He just sat me down and went over two or three of our legends again with me. When he was done, I asked what old superstitious legends had to do with anything, and all he said was 'Jake, with time, you will come to understand, and if you don't, then I'll tell you everything.' Crazy old man." Jake huffed in annoyance.

"What legends?" I asked, curiosity taking over before I could stop myself.

"We're not supposed to tell them to the 'pale faces', and I don't think people get much paler then you, Bells," Jake smirked and laughed at me. I scowled playfully.

"I won't tell if you don't." I gave him my own devilish smirk right back. "Besides, maybe I'll see something in them that you missed, since I've never head them before."

"Sure, sure, why not. But let me ask you: do you like scary stories?" Jake asked putting on a serious face, only give it away by raising his eyebrows at me.

"Love them," I said filling my voice with mock-intrigue.

"Well, there are lots of legends, but there were only two my dad seemed to think I should see something in." He smiled, to show me how little stock he put in the legends. "The first one is the legend claiming that we descended from wolves and that the wolves are our brothers still." Jake just shook his head like it was the most ludicrous thing in the world. "It's against tribal law to kill them because the legends say that our ancestors are wolves. Well, not wolves, really, but the wolves that turn into men. You would call them werewolves, I suppose. They say that when our one true enemies shows up, men who are of age become werewolves once more"

"What? Werewolves have enemies?" I questioned in surprise. This was decidedly not what I was excepting to hear.

"Oooooh, yes. _The cold ones_." His voice dropped little lower. I could hear footsteps off in the distance, but I payed it no mind, being too lost in Jake's story.

"The 'cold ones'?" I asked, intrigue taking me completely over now. However, the people that were now on the beach with us stopped and I could hear them sniff the air. Well that's odd, I thought, but Jake went on and I let to be.

"Yes. The stories about them are almost as old as the wolf legends, and some much more recent. According to them, my own great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made the treaty that kept them off our land." He snorted incredulously. "He was a tribal elder, like my father. Y'see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf men." I stared at him earnestly, hoping he would go on.

"So," Jacob continued, encouraged by my expression, "the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during my great-grandfather's time was different. They didn't hunt the way others of their kind did: _they weren't supposed to be dangerous_ to the tribe. So my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn't expose them to the pale-faces. That would be you Bells." He winked at me.

"If they weren't dangerous, then why…?" I tried to understand, why would they need to keep this cold one off their land, and why were the Cullens suddenly jumping to my mind? Maybe because their skin was so cold, I told myself.

"There's always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones, even if they're civilized like this clan was, or 'is' I should say. You never know when they might get too hungry to resist." Jake deliberately worked a thick edge of menace into his tone, probably trying to get some kind of reaction out of me.

"Too hungry to resist what exactly?" This was getting good, but, like Jake, I couldn't see what it had to do with Sam. "And what are they?" I finally asked. "What are the cold ones?"

He smiled darkly.

"Blood drinkers," he replied in a chilling voice. "Your people call them vampires. They _claimed_ that they didn't hunt humans. They _supposedly_ were somehow able to prey on animals instead. The elders think they're back now, the same ones that we have a treaty with. The elders won't let us go to the hospital in Forks because their Carlisle Cullens works there."

I was shocked. Could it be true? Could that be why the Cullens were so different? Could they be vampires? These cold ones? Is that what they are hiding from me?

I tried to keep my voice casual. "Um, Jake? Edward's last name is Cullen, and Carlisle is his adoptive father. I can tell you right now that they are not vampires." As I said it, I knew I was lying. Lying for them, to keep them safe.

Before Jake could say anything about Edward being one of his 'cold ones', a booming voice shouted out furiously "_**Jacob!" **_Three very large young men with cropped haircuts and muscles almost as big as Emmet's were approaching from down the beach. From the way Jake stiffened beside me, I could tell that they were part of Sam's gang.

"What the hell are you doing?" The largest of the men demanded. The reason why he was so mad was beyond me: there was no way they could have known what Jake was telling me, unless their hearing was as good as mine or the Cullens. My chest constricted at the thought.

"None of your business, Sam. Go away," Jake spat back at him, jumping to his feet. So this was Sam.

"Why are you talking to her?" Sam growled, stalking forward, a small flick of his fingers telling the two behind him to stay back.

"Who the hell do you think you are? I'm not like you: I'm not part of your gang or whatever. Lay off!" Jake was so angry he was trembling. This was clearly a confrontation he'd been itching for for some time now.

"Jacob, you don't understand yet, but you will. Just trust me, she's not good to hang out with." Sam's tone now was a mixture of frustration, anger, and pleading. He clearly didn't want a confrontation with Jake. Jake had other plans.

"Fuck you, Sam. Bella's my friend, and I'm gonna hang out with her if I want to. You can go jump off a cliff or whatever." The statement shocked me before I remembered him telling me about their habit of cliff-diving. But still, I'd never seen him so mad, and it was very unnerving.

"Jake, you're out of line there. You may not be like us right now, but you're going to regret this when you are." Sam's voice and posture had become more threatening, and I felt honestly scared for the first time.

"Shut up! I'll never be like you! I don't know what you did do Paul, Jared and Embry, but it's not going to work on me!" Jake was screaming, fists clenched tight.

"I don't care if you're belligerent, Jake. What the fuck were you thinking, telling her the legends? Don't you understand how important those are? How sacred? She's an outsider! She could never understand! You shouldn't hang out with her. She smells like the Cullens."

With an animal-like roar, Jake lunged for Sam.

"NO!" I screamed, one arm reaching desperately forward.

Sam's face was a mask of disbelief and outrage.

Beside me, there was a monstrous ripping sound, and pain and heat and flying fur.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was my arm covered in blood.


	23. Chapter 23 Treaty Line

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people. I make no claims that her stories are my own.  
_

**Hello everyone,**

**Thank you all for your reviews of the last chapter and for the support you have give me throw out this story.  
_**

**Chapter 23 Treaty Line:**

**Edward's POV:**

My meadow felt like a prison as I paced through it, back and forth, back and forth, incredibly anxious. My whole being told me that Bella was in some kind of danger. I felt like Alice, her mind sometimes did things like this to her right before she got a very vague but bad premonition. I reminded myself that if Bella was indeed in danger, Alice would at least pick something up, even if it was vague.

I had only left my family to their hunting a few hours ago, after giving an insistent Rose my word, that I would refrain from going near Bella while she bled. I growled with frustration, when my cell phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. Caught off-guard, I fumbled it open and said "Hello?"

I did not have to look at the caller ID to know it would be Alice. I had somehow known for hours that Bella was in some kind of trouble, and this call would only confirm it. "Edward, I can't explain right now. Just get your ass to the treaty line _right now," _she said in a tense and worried voice before hanging up.

Mystified, but now almost crippled with worry, I raced down towards the treaty line faster than I had ever run before, making it to the line in under a minute. As I approached the line, a revolting smell I had long thought dead reached my nose. The stench of those damned mangy mutts. So it would seem they had not died out like we had thought. Shit, this could not be good.

I paced back and forth along the treaty line, using all the self-control I had built up other the years to keep myself from crossing over into their land so that I could search out Bella. Knowing that if I did cross that line, I would instantly ignite a war between our species, and if Bella was indeed there, as I knew in the depths of my being that she was, I could very well put her in harms way. I knew that she was a friend with one of the local boys; she had even told me she was worried about him. I prayed for the fist time in all my years as a vampire, that those cursed dogs had not harmed her.

**Bella's POV:**

Several things pushed through the confusing darkness. I couldn't open my eyes but I knew I hadn't died because I could still hear what was going on around me. The first thing to break through the mental fog was a throbbing sensation emanating from my arm that I had never felt before. I thought, this must be what true physical pain is. Then, the feeling of something warm and wet like a dog's nose pressing against my cheek. Last, was a heart-wrenching whimpering, a sound that seemed to be coming from right next to me. What on earth…?

Slowly, other sensations and sounds started to make themselves known. Whatever was next to me would periodically shift from the whimpering I had awoken to, to a fearsome, chill-inducing snarl, only to be met with an equally fearsome snarl that seemed to be coming from further off.

I desperately tried to pull myself out of this dark state. The snarling frightened me to the point that ever part of my body was screaming at me to run. However, no matter how badly I wanted to leave, the darkness held me prisoner. I inhaled a slow deep breath through my nose and regretted it at once.

Jake's dank smell hit me hard, but it had changed: the motor-oil-and-earth-and-sea-salt smell I always tried to focus on so I would not gag when I was with him was now taken over by the other part of his scent, the part I would try to ignore when I was with him: the wet dog and chemical part. It seemed to be so strong now that it was knocking out the other part of his scent altogether.

The snarling slowly began to die down, calming my fears as it did. It left the sounds of the waves washing over the shore, of feet shifting against the small rocks, and other footsteps farther out rapidly making their way towards where I had originally collapsed, and finally the return of the soft whimpering.

"Hey, Paul. Welcome to the disaster," an unfamiliar voice called, entangled stress and relief lacing his voice.

"Shit," another unfamiliar voice said. I assumed it was Paul. "That's Jake, I guess?" The way he said it sounded awkward. What did he mean 'that's Jake'? Was Jake hurt as well? Suddenly, panic gripped me.

"Yeah," Yet another voice added, sounding tried and sad. _Oh, God, what had happened?_ I pushed against the darkness, yet I could still not find a way out.

"Shit," Paul repeated, his voice a mix of stress and wariness. "And that's Bella Swan?" he sounded down right surprised by me, like I was not at all like what he had thought I would be. Why would he even know anything about me at all, for that matter? I wondered.

"Pretty much." The first voice added, sounding strained, like we were all in some major disaster, like he had said earlier.

Again, "Shit." Pall huffed a sigh. "And she's the one who smells…?" _Smells? What the hell!_

"Duh. Catch a whiff yourself!" one of the other said. A brief pause insured, during which some distinctive sniffing noises joined those of the crashing tide. The sound made me extremely uncomfortable.

"Wow." Paul coughed, interrupting himself. "You weren't kidding. That's intense." A part of me was getting pissed: _I did not smell bad. What was wrong with these people? _

"Seriously," the more irritated of the voices said, but my focus was being drawn to my arm: the throbbing seemed to be subsiding, and a tingling, itchy feeling was taking its place. It almost felt like I could feel my skin stretching, growing back together. But that couldn't be right.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Paul asked.

"We don't know yet. Sam is trying to calm Jake down, but she still hasn't woken up yet. Jake phased and knocked her out. Cut her arm at the same time, and she was bleeding pretty badly for a while. Hence all the blood all over. I dunno what to do. I was just gonna wait for Sam to phase back, or for her to wake up. I dunno," one of the others replied.

They said I had been cut, that I was knocked out. _Was that what this darkness could be? _I wondered. But then why was I aware of what was going on around me? Was this all just some kind of weird, semi-hallucinogenic dream? I concentrated hard, trying to remember what it was I had been doing before this strange darkness overtook me.

That's right, Jake and I were on the beach, talking about our problems. Then, somewhere along the line, Sam and his gang showed up. Jake and Sam had begun fighting about Jake telling me the legends. The legends… _could_ Edward be a vampire? I realized that this was not the time. I needed to open my eyes. They seemed noncompliant when it came to my request, could this be a symptom of trauma?

"How long as she been out like that? Isn't that kinda bad?" _That was a good question, thank you, Paul, how long had I been out like this?_

"Pretty much exactly as long as Jake's been in that form, and that's been about fifteen minutes." _Ok, what the heck does that mean? What 'form'?_

"Why hasn't she been taken inside yet? Or at least gotten off the ground?" Paul asked. Finally, someone was asking.

"You wanna try getting near Jake? Be my guest. He almost bit my head off when I tried – literally!" The panic I had been feeling over Jake subsided; he must not have gotten hit when I had. But how had I gotten cut? Was it Sam who had hit me? Was that why Jake wouldn't let them near me? That had to be it, thank goodness. No, wait, they said 'Jake phased and knocked her out. Cut her arm at the same time'. That doesn't mean 'Jake accidently hurt me.' I think we're gonna have to wait for Sam to calm him down before we do anything." The man who had called out to Paul when he first showed up went on. As for Sam calming Jake down, what? Neither one had said a word this whole time, and besides, Jake hated Sam. I could just not see Jake calming down for Sam.

"Jared, I'm serious, that much blood-loss is dangerous! She has to get to a hospital!" No, no hospital, they could not take me to a hospital! A red flash of panic ran through me. My body bolted upright and my eyes finally opened, pushing out the darkness.

"No hospital!" I shouted in panic as my eyes swept over the scene around me.

A russet colored wolf as big as a horse sat on its haunches next to me, staring at me intently with regret and sadness. The wolf's eyes seemed so familiar to me…. Jake's eyes? Realization dawned on me. The legends were true! Jake had turned in to a wolf!

"Jake… is… is that you?" The russet wolf slowly shook its head up and down, pleading with it eyes for understanding. "Jake, are you alright?" He first swung his head from side to side, then up and down and I could see the confusion in his eyes.

"We need to get her to the hospital. She's lost a lot of blood," the voice I now knew belonged to Jared said urgently. As a red warning light flashed in front of my eyes once more.

"**No hospital!" **I shouted at the three boys, Jake and a large black wolf sitting around me. The three guys all had looks aimed at me that clearly said 'she is insane'.

I looked at the three teenage boys: they didn't look like boys at all though. All three looked closer to twenty-five than sixteen or seventeen. They all stood about six-feet-something, with tan skin, cropped haircuts. All three of them wore only short-sleeved shirts and cut-off jean shorts. They were all almost as muscular as Emmett. But next to the immensity of the wolves, they were dwarfed.

"Um, Bella, you have lost too much blood. You _need_ to see a doctor," said the only one of the men I had yet to hear the others call by name, but I knew from what Jake had said that it must be his friend, Embry.

At the word 'doctor', something stirred in my memory, and Charlie's voice rang clear in my mind. The day after my pheromones he, had sat me down, telling me he had something important to say. It had been so bizarre and downright shocking because it was so at odds with what I had been taught my whole life. 'Never go to the hospital; doctors are bad' had been the mantra I was raised with. But Charlie had told me something, something that counteracted that lesson completely. He had said, "Bella, if you ever need anything, especially anything medical, you can trust Dr. Cullen."

Carlisle. I needed to call Carlisle. He could help me, and would not tell anyone anything about me, that I was sure of. I moved to sit further up, and the movement caused one of my dizzy spells. I closed my eyes as the world around me spun for what seemed like a lifetime. This spell was defiantly longer then any of my others, but it slowly released me. I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket and searched for Carlisle's number in my contact list and hit call.

It only rang once. "Hello, Bella." His voice seemed to be calm, but I could hear an underlying tension to it.

"Carlisle, I need help. I… I got hurt and I lost a lot of blood," or at least, that was what the wolf boys had said, said just from looking around me, I could tell they were right. The beach around me was covered in blood. "But I can't go to the hospital," I whispered out my plea to him over the phone. I knew Carlisle cared for me just as he did for the rest of his family, but I had never needed to call on him for help before.

In the background, I heard I chorus of angry protestations, though I tried to pay them no mind. I needed to get to Carlisle. He would know what to do. Although I was no longer in any kind of pain, I had lost a lot of blood. And it seemed to be making my dizzy spells all the worse.

"Carlisle _Cullen?" _Yep, I could tell from Embry's voice he thought I was insane.

"You're hurt and you're calling a _blood-sucker?" _Paul shouted in a heated voice. I could hear growls on Carlisle's end of the line, and Rose murmuring "Did they tell her what we are?" as Paul shouted "Are you insane?" at me. The black wolf was growling, and Jake was whining again.

I knew Carlisle could hear them, yet he ignored them and asked me, "What is the extent of your injury?"

"My arm's been cut. I think it's from my shoulder to my wrist, but I can't really tell. There's a lot of blood." It came out a whisper.

"Bella, it's alright. Where are you?" I could tell by the way he asked that he already know.

"La Push," I whispered to him, as I realized the Cullens were forbidden to come here to help me. This was not good. I had a feeling Sam and the other wolves weren't necessarily bad. But I also knew they would never let the Cullens onto their land.

After a brief pause from both Carlisle and the wolves, he started, "You're going to have to get out of there. I can't cross the treaty line." Carlisle voice held a sad note to it, along with a deeper question as will. He must be wondering if I knew what he and his family were.

"I know," I whispered more to answer to his hidden question then to let hem know I know about the treaty line. "Where?" I asked, needing to know where I could meet him.

"The wolves can show you." The black wolf whom I assumed must be Sam, started to growl deeply just then. "Or as it seems they don't quite like that idea, you could drive over to the line and we could meet you there. That is, if you think you can move on your own?"

I tried to stand up so I could get back to my truck, thinking that that would be the only way I could get over the damn line. I didn't even make it all the way to an upright position when yet another dizzy spell hit me. Luckily, Jake moved his massive wolf body right up next to me, so I did not fall all the way to the ground. Though I did drop my phone onto the rocks.

"Shit!" Jared, Paul and Embry said all at the same time as I fell against Jake. Sam's growling stopped dead. Through the phone at my feet, I could hear Carlisle asking if I was alright, and to talk to him, as Rose, Emmet, Jasper, Esme, and Alice all asked what was going on in the back ground. Through all of this, I noticed that there was one voice missing, the one voice I desperately wanted to hear. _Where could Edward be_, I wondered.

"Edward?" I whispered out my need for him through my dizziness. "Edward!" I called out in my need for him once more. "Jake, please, I need to get to the line. I need Edward," I pleaded to my friend. I knew from how the others were acting that they were prejudiced against the Cullens, but I had told Jake everything they had done for me and hoped he could now at least see through the prejudice and help me get to the Cullens.

My dizziness slowly faded, leaving exhaustion in its place. I leaned down slowly, still holding on to Jake's fur with my other hand as I reached for my phone. "I'm here, Carlisle. When… umm… when I went to stand up, I sort of had a dizzy spell and dropped my phone. I don't think I can drive," I said meekly, wondering how the hell I was getting out of here.

"Jake." I looked over at him as I felt the tears starting to run down my face in hopelessly. "Please take me to the line," I begged.

"Why can't _we_ just take you to the hospital? Why would you trust those _leaches_?" Paul demanded hotly of me. I turned away from the venom in his voice. I could hear all the Cullens growling on their end of the phone, along with the wind rushing by. They must have started making their way to the line in earnest.

"**Don't call them that! You don't know anything about them,"** I shouted weakly at him. "Hospital are… dangerous for me…." I whispered, the little strength I had had left spent in my first outburst. It was the first time I had really said that out loud. "Carlisle can look me over and won't tell anyone about it." I could see that Paul, Jared and Embry were about to ague with me again so I said as firmly as I could, "He is the _only_ doctor I can go to."

Jake nudged at my side with his nose, and I looked up at him. I could see questions running behind his eyes. He wanted to know why hospital was dangerous to me. "I'm… I'm different, Jake," I whispered to answer the question in his eyes. "Please, take me to the line," I pleaded once more.

I could see in his eyes that he was torn. "Please," I said as I looked into his undecided gaze. Jake wagged his head up and down, saying yes to me, and knelt down. It took a second for me to figure out what he wanted, but when I did, I laughed. I had trouble clambering up on to Jake's back, my body felt that weak. Finally, after several failed attempts, Jared grabbed me by the waist and hoisted me up and over so that I was straddling Jake's shoulders. I twined my fingers in his thick hair, and he lumbered to his feet.

"Jake's going to take me to the line," I told Carlisle. It seemed that blood loss was taking its toll on me.

"Tell him we'll be waiting where the treaty was made, the part of the river where the boulder sits, separating our lands," Carlisle sent his caring voice through the phone.

"We'll see you there, Carlisle," I whispered into the phone. I could here my voice weakening as I ended the call.

Jake took his first tentative step forward, Sam, Jared, Paul and Embry stepped in front of us, stopping Jake from leaving. "Jake, are you as insane as she is?" Paul demanded harshly, pointing at me as I rested on Jakes large back. Sam growled, looking Jake right in the eye, causing Jake to take a step back and start whining, which quickly turned into a growl of his own. The way the two interacted almost made it seem like they were somehow communicating with one another.

This was getting ridiculous, and as the wolves continued postulating, I knew somehow they only were trying to look out for me. But still, I was growing weaker and weaker by the moment as they kept us from leaving. "Look," I interrupted, struggling to sit up as my head pounded and my stomach lurched. "I need to see a doctor, and Carlisle is the _only_ doctor I can trust. I understand that you don't like them, though I have no idea why." Unfortunately, I was cut off before I could say any more.

"'Have no idea'? How can you say that? Jake practically spelled it our for you that they're vampires. Vampires, Bella! They drink blood – they _kill people_ for their blood. What's wrong with you?" Jared shouted at me, and threw his arms in the air in disbelief.

"You're _bleeding_ Bella. That's basically asking them if they'd like a free meal!" Paul scoffed at me before I could get a word in edge-wise.

"Do you have any self-preservation at all? You're so strange, Bella and not just because you smell and feel strange. Vamps – why would you ever willingly go near a vamp?" Embry demanded of me, like I was canplealy insane.

"Stop, just stop," I said, cutting them off. "_They don't kill people._ They hunt animals, _not humans!" _I protested. "Hell, Edward saved my _life_ and Carlisle saves lives _daily_ at the hospital. How could you possibly call them killers?" As soon as I said Edward had saved my life, surprise creased all of their faces. "I'm done fighting with all of you on this. Please, just take me to them, I need their help, please just accept that."

Sam snapped his head in my direction, distrust, conviction, and pity his eyes. "You may not trust them Sam, but I do," I said, sounding braver than I felt as I addressed the horse-sized black wolf, who still had his cold and distrustfully eyes locked on mine. _What had I done to earn his mistrust? _I had to wonder. Was it just because I trusted the Cullens?

"Bella," Embry said slowly to me. "We are not willing to take you to the blood suckers. They _will hurt you." _ Embry said with conviction. "I don't care if you don't smell human, but you have a heartbeat and blood in your veins. So we can't in good conscience take you to the line, knowing they will be there," Embry tried to explain to me calmly.

"You're the ones who told me I'm different from anything you've smelled before, and I'm willing to bet that's the same with the Cullens. Given that they haven't hurt me yet, couldn't we say that they won't now? I'm not at risk, even if the Cullens did hunt humans."

There was a strained silence as they weighed my opinion against their prejudice, but then Sam's large black wolf body moved aside and turned, trotting off into the woods at the edge of the beach. As he moved, Jared, Paul and Embry let out low growls and Embry muttered, "Great, looks like we're off to see the leaches." The three of them turned and began following quickly behind Sam.

Jake followed the others into the woods. He kept a quick pace but did not run. Really, that was a good thing, seeing as I was so weak it was almost too hard to keep my grasp on his thick russet fur. I was surprised at how fun it was to ride on his back as he moved gracefully through the woods. It was odd that I could feel this through my sleepiness. I had to keep myself from laying down completely on Jake's back and lulling to sleep.

My ears eventually picked up the sound of the burbling water. We must be nearing the river Carlisle had spoken of. The river that marked the treaty line. As we continued to get nearer, I started to pick up Edward's footsteps, along with an almost inaudible growling. I seemed to be hearing that sound a lot lately. The others, or, I guess, Jake's new pack brothers, slowed down up ahead of us.

Edwards growl suddenly escalated to a savage snarl. I had never head him sound so menacing. _"They're the reason she's hurt!" _

"Jasper, Emmett," Carlisle snapped. "Help your brother."

Sounds of brief scuffling, a splash, and cursing pierced the air around us.

"Edward, don't you dare try to cross that line again, or I will rip you apart," Alice promised, her voice fearful for her brother. I had never heard Alice sound like that before.

"Calm down, Edward. Tell us what you hear," Carlisle asked in a strained voice. How could he know that unless he really was a mind reader? This seemed to confirm it for me: Edward could read minds.

It seemed that the Cullens had just about as much love for the wolves as the wolves had for the Cullens. It was just ridiculous. Their end goal seemed to be the same. Jake had said the wolves protected their people from vampires, and the Cullens seemed to respect human life. Was that not one and the same? All of us were different in a world where we had to hide our selves from others. Shouldn't we all try to support one another? Why could they not see this?

"They're almost here. There are five of them, one very new. They're nervous." Edward's voice sounded strained. From how soft it sound to my ears, I would say we were about a mile away now.

Suddenly, Edward let out a strangled growl. "The mutts think we're dangerous, but it's because of them Bella has been hurt. She was standing next to one of the creatures when he phased for the first time. He wasn't in control of himself," Edward growled furiously. I could hear him straining closer to the water, and Emmett's grunts as he restrained him.

"I say we let Edward rip them limb from limb for their transgression," Rose growled in obvious hostilely. "I'd love to help him." Rose purred in pleasure of the thought of a fight. I had had no idea she would so love the idea of a fight. What was going on between these two groups?

I needed to somehow defuse both the Cullens and the wolf pack before this had a chance to escalate to a full-blown fight. Jake was like a brother and certainly a close friend, Edward was the man I loved, and the Cullens felt more like my family then my family ever had.

"Edward, Rose, please calm down. No one meant to cause me harm," I called out to them, hoping to ease the hostility and fear that was so evident in their voices.

Jake quickened his pace as we heard his pack brothers' footsteps come to a stop and both the Cullens' and wolves' fearsome growls pierced the still air. We burst out from the thick forest trees right into the unbelievably tense scene. Jake stopping just behind his pack brothers, and I could feel his muscles tighten.

I could just make out the Cullens, over the opposite river bank, over Sam's immense wolf head as his hackles stood straight up and the lower half of his body bowed down as if to spring on his pray. Jared, Paul and Embry's bodies started to shake; all three had their hands balled up into fists.

The entire Cullen family was there apart from Esme, and their eyes had simultaneously moved from the wolves to lock on my blood-covered sleeve. Jasper, Alice and Emmet's eyes all blazed with worry and anger. Rose's eyes were much the same, but the worry was replaced by protectiveness. Carlisle's eyes showed worry, concern mostly, but a small amount of anger was there as well. He was the only one apart from me who seemed to have any understanding or compassion for the wolves and their situation.

Edward's eyes blazed with molten fire at the sight of my injured arm. His eyes were turning blacker and blacker by the moment as I looked into them, and he would not look away from my bloody arm. Incredible rage, crippling anxiety, potent regret, passionate sadness, passivity, need, hatred, and fierce protectiveness blazed in the fire of his eyes as he struggled against Emmet's hold on his arms. I could see he wanted me away from Jake and the rest of the wolves to the point that he would brick the treaty just get me as far as he could from them. The only thing that was keeping him from crashing through that line was Emmet.

"Bella," Edward's voice straggled out in pain and panic. I hated hearing pain in his velvety voice like that. Hearing it was tearing at my own heart.

I eased myself off Jake's back, grabbing his fur to steady myself as I did so, the pain in Edward's voice urging me to make my way to him to comfort him. As I was sliding off of Jake's back, Esme dashed out of the woods and came to a stop right next to Carlisle, handing over a large black bag that she had been carrying. She let out as gasp as her gaze fell on to my arm.

"Oh, Bella, sweetheart, everything will be okay, Carlisle is a wonderful doctor." She sounded so sad and concerned that I could not tell who she was trying to reassure, herself or me. She looked as if she wanted to cry, but no tears were being shed. I wondered if vampires even could cry.

Seeing the concern and pain on the Cullen's faces made me want to get over to them all the more. The water did not look too deep: I could just tromp right on through it, but I was hoping to avoid that if I could. I was still very wobbly on my feet. The current might knock me over. There did seem to be a lot of smaller rocks near the bolder that I could try using as a bridge, fortunately.

"Thank you, Jake. Who knew riding on the back of horse-sized wolf could be so fun? I'll call you, 'k?" Jake rolled his eyes at me for that one, though I could still see the pain and remorse in his eyes. He had acknowledged the joke for my sake. I could tell he wasn't much in the mood for humor. I inwardly sighed at his reluctance to see me leave. "The Cullens would never hart anyone," I whispered firmly into his furry ear.

"No, _we _would never let any harm come to you," Edward snarled. But his eyes would not meet mine, his gaze instead moving in-between the wolves, making it obvious that his words were not meant for me but for them. He plainly blamed them for my current state.

"What do you mean by that, _blood sucker_," Paul spat out.

"It means, _dog_, that _we,_ as in _our family,_ have _never_ harmed Bella in any way or put her in harm's way, unlike you filthy mutts," Rose hissed right back. Glancing over at Paul, I noticed that his shaking had increased.

"Jasper," Carlisle said calmly. Suddenly, I felt a lot calmer, and I could see that the wolves all seemed to lose some of their hostility as well. Jasper walked to stand in-between Rose and Emmet, who was still holding onto Edward's arms, and placed a hand on both Rose's and Edward's shoulders, which seemed to help further calm them down. Could Jasper do something like Edward? I wondered. Like, calm people down? I had always wondered why, whenever Jasper was near, I would feel calm. It was yet another mystery to be dealt with later.

"Edward, calm down," Alice instructed authoritatively. She'll be over here soon, and you can have her then."

Paul exploded. "What the hell do you mean by that? _'Have her'?_ And what makes you think she's going over there anyway? You're _blood-suckers_, and look what she's covered in!"

"And can you tell me why she's like that? _Because of you!"_ Rose shot back heatedly. "Of course Bella's coming with us. You're a bunch of immature, wet-behind-the-ears, inexperienced, _young—"_

"That's enough, Rose," Carlisle cut in, stalling the wolves' snarls and the Cullens' growls. "It's not for us to decide who Bella goes with."

Indescribably grateful, I pushed my sluggish body forward, but as I was about to make my way past the three wolves still in human form, I saw Edward suddenly stiffen in Emmet's grasp. Just then, Jared's arm shot out and grabbed a hold of my wrist. So that was what Edward has sensed. "Don't," he pleaded with me.

I looked back at him carefully. He had not grabbed my wounded arm, thanks goodness, but the contact had been a shock, and my vision was swimming. "Please let go," I said as nicely as I could, knowing he was only worried for me. "It's up to me who I go with, like Carlisle said. The Cullens may be vampires," I could not believe I had just owned up to believing that they were, "but I _know _they're good people, and they will not hurt me. They care about me, and I care about them. I know you don't understand, but the Cullens are like family to me. You are all my friends: vampires, werewolves, it doesn't matter. This goes for you too," I said looking over at the Cullens. "All of us are different, and I know that you don't like each other, but I will not choose between you. I trust and love you all," I said, looking at all of the Cullens and then turning to look at each of the wolves. "But right now, I need to go with Carlisle. He is the_ only doctor_ I can have look me over."

An emotion-laden pause followed my outburst, and I used it to try and catch my breath. Eventually, Sam, in his black wolf form, swung his head at Jared, and Jared let me go, growling "Fine," as he did so, and I stumbled away from him. I slowly and carefully put my weight on the first rock, trying to make my way over to the Cullens. I just made it to the larger rock in the middle of the river when yet another dizzy spell hit me. I leaned myself up against it as I waited for it to pass. I could hear both the wolves and the Cullens shouting.

"Emmet, let me go to her!" I could hear Edward begging.

"What's she doing? What's the matter?" Jared demanded, and through the mist that was permeating my mind, I had to admit that I had no idea. This was worse than anything I usually had. Was something really wrong with me?

Fortunately, although this spell was worse than my others, it was also shorter, so I was soon able to clamber over the boulder and the rest of the way across the river, although I was still very awkward and weak.

As I placed one of my feet down on the Cullen side of the river, my legs gave out on me and I started to stumble. As I tipped, I could hear Edward fighting against Emmet's restraining arms. Why Emmet was still holding Edward now that I was on their side of the river was a bit beyond me. "Shit," I heard Emmet exclaim in panic, and I was suddenly being cradled in Edward's arms. He had me in front of Carlisle before I even know what was going on.

"Edward," Carlisle murmured his name as if asking a question.

*"Completely fine, Carlisle," Edward said tightly. "Bella, I'm going to remove your jacket so Carlisle can get a look at your arm. Tell me if it hurts you in any way, okay, love?" Edward's voice seemed calm on the surface, but I could hear the overwhelming worry under the faux tranquility. I simply nodded my head to let him know it was fine. Carlisle placed his black bag down next to him, and Edward smoothly helped me remove my torn jacket.

"Esme, I may need your help as well," Carlisle called to his wife, as Edward handed my now-demolished jacket to Rose, who placed it into a large plastic bag. As I watched Rose, I winced, thinking about how Alice would use this as an excuse to take me shopping.

"Are you in pain, Bella?"

"Love, are you alright?" both Carlisle and Edward said simultaneously, having seen my expression.

"No. I just know Alice will drag me out shopping now to get a new jacket," I told them and Alice huffed, muttering something along the lines of 'Well, you _are_ going to need one now.' I heard one of the wolves snort with laughter from across the river. It was most likely Jake; he knew how much I hated shopping.

"Bella, I'm going to have to rip of the sleeve of your shirt to see what's going on with your arm, okay?" Carlisle said, slipping back into doctor mode.

"Whatever you have to do is fine, Carlisle," I told him.

I leaned my left side against Edward's chest for support, still feeling weak; this gave Carlisle better access to my bloodied right arm. Carlisle reached out, and, with one hand holding onto my exposed wrist, his other hand smoothly ripped the sleeve of my shirt. He handed it off to Rose to add to the bag that was holding my jacket.

"Carlisle, I'm not in any pain anymore. I just feel weak and am having a lot of intense dizzy spells," I explained, realizing that he was being overly gentle, probably thinking his actions caused me discomfort.

"There's no pain in your arm?" Carlisle asked with his eyebrows raised. "Fascinating," he mumbled to himself. "Esme, would you please hand me some gauze out of my bag?" he asked, not looking away form my arm. I laid my head back onto Edward's shoulder and closed my eyes as I felt Carlisle begin wiping the blood from my arm.

Knowing that the chaos had calmed, for now at least, I could really sit back and think. I truly was a bloody mess. It was strange how calm I was, really. When I was around other people who were bleeding, my body and mind would get so strange. My body would always get sort of tense, and the strange yet wonderful smell would overwhelm me, causing my head to swim, so much so that I would have to leave the room. Yet the smell of my own blood hadn't done anything to me. Well, except make me so incredibly weak, that is. I wondered why that was.

A collective gasp from both the Cullens and the wolves brought me back down to reality. Embry exclaimed, "But I _saw_ Jake–" and Carlisle touched my arm with gentle, disbelieving fingers.

"Bella, honey, the cuts are already gone."


	24. Chapter 24 she knows

The Twilight Saga is the sole property of Stephanie Meyer and her various publishing people.

_A/n_

_Sorry about the very late update. I have no idea way but this Chapter was hard for me. _

Chapter 24: She knows

Edwards POV:

She knows. She knows the truth, and just accepts us? Just like that? Even though we're monsters? I tried desperately to understand how this could be, how she could just take us as we were. Well, the mutts as well. I looked down at my angel, my Bella, as I ran my hands through her long, silky hair as she slept peacefully on the black leather couch in my room. She hadn't even stirred when I place her down onto it, or as I had picked her up and ran here with her. She had fallen into unconsciousness right after Carlisle had told her that the cuts had already healed, the announcement of which had shocked and mystified my family, the mutts and myself. She, however, had only said 'That's good,' as she yawned.

I had been frantic when she suddenly passed out on us. I was still undeniably anxious over the fact that she had yet to awaken. Carlisle, however, did not see her passing out as anything to worry over or at lest that's what he was till us. He had calmly explained to everyone present that her exhaustion was the result of two things: blood loss, and the energy her body must have spent on healing her wounds. Wounds, he pointed out, that should have taken months to heal, and even then only with a lot of medical help. But he could not hide the underlying worry in this thoughts from me: we knew nothing about why Bella was the way she was, and because of that he could not know for sure whether he was right in what he was telling us.

I could not seem to stop myself from simply running my hands through her hair as I sat with her, wishing passionately that she would open her eyes and wake up. There were so many questions I wanted to ask her, and I knew she would have many of her own for me. My questions, along with those of the rest of my family, swirled in my head as we all waited for Carlisle to finish his tests on the blood he had taken from the gauze and her jacket and shirt. Luckily, the lab at the hospital was empty on the weekend, so he could sneak in and run his tests. That was another interesting thing: I could understand my family's concern for me, especially considering my initial violent reaction when we had first met, but strangely, her blood's scent had held no power over me this time, even in such quantities. Strange. Perhaps Carlisle's tests would explain things to some extent.

He had tried to get a direct sample from her, but when he tried drawing blood, the needle slid off her skin like she was rubber. Although she seemed as soft as any other human, it turned out her skin was more like ours.

I tried to push the buzz of thoughts from my family to the back of my mind as I looked after Bella, but Alice wouldn't allow me to ignore her. _'She can't stay in that shirt any longer, Edward. We're trying to give you time alone with Bella, but Rose and I are coming up there and changing her out of that thing right NOW!'_ Alice could not push down her irritated at allowing Bella to remain in a damaged, dirty shirt any longer. We all knew that it had just been a matter of time.

"Come on Rose, we're getting Bella out of that shirt!" I listened as Alice commanded Rose and they left Jasper to his thoughts in the living room. He did not like that Bella knew what we were, but he knew there was nothing we could do about it. We all loved her, but she was _my_ mate. Had she been any other human, he would have killed her to keep us all safe from the Volturi, Alice most of all.

Rose's thoughts had been similar to Jasper's at first, but there was an underlying fear that she did not wish to share with the rest of us. She, like myself, was terrified that once Bella truly understood what we were, she would leave us. She has become so much a part of our family, that if she were to leave us out of fear, she would also leave a gaping hole within our family unit. One that none of us would ever recover from. Especially me.

Rose was hesitant to come up with Alice. Fearful that if Bella should wake as they changed her, she would see fear of us in Bella's eyes. I monitored her thoughts as she battled back and forth whether to come up here or go hid herself under the hood of her car. In the end, the need to do something to help Bella won.

As their footsteps made their way up the stairs, I stopped stroking Bella's hair, only to lightly run my finer down her cheek. Memorizing ever detail of how she looked in this peaceful sleep of hers, just in case Rose and my worst fears came to pass, desperately hoping they would not. As Alice came barging into my room, with a hesitant Rose just behind her, I could see that Alice was in a towering bad mood.

"Out," Alice snapped at me, as she threw open the door to my closet. Rose and I locked eyes. It was strange being in sync with Rose. She and I had never seen eyes to eye on things. '_She's still fuming about not being able to see the mutts,' _Rose thought at me, not wanting to put Alice in a fouler mood then she seemed to be in already.

Locking into Alice's thoughts, I could see that she was still very irritated over her lack of visions when it came to the mutts. She had only seen that Carlisle would be getting a distressing call from Bella. Then she tried to get a more specific vision of her, only to be faced with swirling mist that was that turned out to be the mutts' supernatural interference. Her irritation was now lashing out at all of us.

"Edward, I said out!" she snapped at me once more, as I looked at Rose for help. _'If Bella wakes up, I won't let her take it out on her,_' she thought at me. I looked down at Bella one more time before getting up and leaving the room. Alice was at the point of almost throwing me out herself.

I only lingered in Alice and Rose's minds for a moment: I wanted to give Bella as much privacy as I could, despite the seventeen-year-old and newly mated vampire in me who desperately wanted to peak. Thankfully, Carlisle's thoughts came within my range just as I was about to wander back into Alice's mind.

Unfortunately, he was going over everything that had happened earlier at the river and what Charlie had told him two weeks ago. He wanted to share whatever he had learned at the lab with the whole family at the same time, and not give me spoilers. "Carlisle will be here soon," I called out to everyone as I sat down on the couch in the living room.

I leaned forward, closing my eyes as the whirlwind of thoughts hit me, and I tried to push them back as I waited for yet another family meeting to start. We seemed to be having a lot of these meetings about Bella.

Carlisle's thoughts became more and more focused as he approached the house. Apparently, what he had found out was so startling that he was having a hard time not thinking about it. Irritation festered under my skin: she was _my_ mate. _I_ should know.

Rose and Alice were coming down the stairs as Carlisle entered. Jasper and Emmett appeared from whichever part of the house they had been in. Esme came in from the kitchen, from which the unusual scent of hot food was wafting.

We all settled ourselves down in the living room, our eyes on Carlisle. This was different: most of the time we would use the dining room table for discussions such as this. With the smell of human food, it would be strange in there.

A sudden movement from upstairs caught all of our attention as we wondered if Bella had woken up, but it only sounded like she turned over in her sleep. "Should we… you know, wait for Kitten to get up before we get into it?" Emmet asked. _'She's one of us and it's a family meeting. Shouldn't she be in on this?'_ he thought as he asked. The rest of us felt the same way, as their minds told me, but were all too on edge to wait. Me more so than the others.

"We can tell her everything when she wakes up, Em," I said, just wanting to know what it was Carlisle had found out from his test, what it was he was so adamantly hiding from me. I could tell it was big, and I knew that he was trying to keep me out so I wouldn't go off and not explain things to anyone else.

Carlisle let out a long sigh. "I think Edward is right in this case." He had everyone's full attention at once, just as we heard Bella turn over again. _I wonder if she's waking up,_ I thought along with Esme.

"My tests have revealed a lot about Bella, though I must say I have no idea as to how or why any of this could be possible. The first thing is that she has twenty-four chromosomal pairs, not twenty-three. As you know from my studies, vampires have twenty-five pairs. Humans, as we should all be aware, have twenty-three. I have not managed to acquire a sample from the werewolves, so nothing can be said of that.

"Also, her blood doesn't match any blood type that I know of. The proteins in her blood cells… I've just never seen anything like it. It's just completely unique. On the one hand, this could easily explain why none of us had the urge to drink from her as we normally would have, with the exception of Edward, but on the other hand, it gets us no closer to an answer about what she is." _'How? How could this be?' _echoed through my mind as Alice, Jasper, Emmet, Esme, and Rose thought the same thing as I had.None of us had time to voice our thoughts, however. Not that we had truly processed what we had just heard, of course.

We all stayed quiet as we heard Bella start moving around upstairs. She was moving slowly, carefully, as if was still slightly dizzy. We heard the door of my room slip open across the golden rug. We were practically holding our breaths. Would she be terrified of us now that she wasn't recently injured and in her right mind? Would this be the last time we would lay eyes on her?

She was nearing the top of the staircase when the careful and regular _shuff-shuff_ sound of her footsteps turned into a sudden, uncontrolled tumble down the stairs. Before I knew what I was doing, I was up the stairs, her startled shriek ringing in my ears, caching her before she could tumble down the steps and hurt her self all over again.

I wrapped her in my arms, lifting her legs in one arm and supporting her back in the other. "Hi, Edward. I'm sorry," she said, rather sheepishly. I was relieved to hear no fear in her voice. Could she just accept us like it was nothing? The thought made me worry for her mental heath, yet a larger part of me was rejoicing that she was not running from us. Though that would be the smarter thing for her to do, of course.

I descended the stairs at comfortable human pace, not wanting to upset her and end this windfall acceptance she seemed to be showing. My family's thoughts raged in the back of my mind as I tried and failed to push them back, wanting only to enjoy the feel of Bella in my arms.

'_Still dizzy and weak it would seem, most likely due to blood loss. Even if she had a known blood type, with the way her skin is, there would be no way for me to give her blood. It's not like she can drink it like us.' _Carlisle was analyzing her, but at the same time, his thoughts showed his amazement over her apparent acceptance of us. _'She is not showing any signs of fear at all, truly amazing.' _

This was a thought that seemed to be on everyone's minds, except Alice's. _'I told them she would be fine if she found out. Why did they not listen to the prophet?'_ It was true, she had said she 'seen' that Bella would not care that we were vampires, but her visions of Bella weren't the way they should be, so how could we put stock in them like we did all the others?

Much like Carlisle, Jasper reached out with his extra talent to test her feelings to see if she truly was as accepting as she was leading us to believe. _'Comfort, fatigue, and curiosity… no fear though, that's good. She wants to ask us as many questions as we wish to ask her.' _The emotions he picked up helped himput his worry over her knowing about us to rest.

'_Oh, she should _not_ be out of bed. She's still getting dizzy spells. I wonder if a sedative would work on her. More rest is what she needs. Though she looks a bit better now that Rose and Alice have cleaned her up. Thank God she doesn't seem to fear us. Not that Bella would need to fear us, I would just hate to lose one of my children,' _Esme's thoughts put a small smile to my lips. Always the mom, even when all her children were immortal.

I quickly focused on Rose's mind as the loss Esme's human baby engulfed her: losing Bella for her (or any of us) would rip at her heart just as badly. I hated knowing that one day I may end up deepening Esme's sorrow. If Bella were to leave this world, I would follow after her in a metaphorical heartbeat. I would not want to live in world that she did not inhabit.

Rose's thoughts were a lot like Esme's. _'She should not be out of bed yet. God, Edward needs a bed in his room now that he's mated. Bella sleeps, unlike the rest of us. He is completely unthoughtful for a mind reader. Did you hear that Edward? You need a damn bed if you're going to make her sleep in your room!'_ She couldn't resist taking a stab at me. However, I knew her anger was coming more from the thought that Bella might try and leave us now that she know what we were. There was also her irritation over the lack of self-preservation instincts Bella was showing by accepting the God-awful mutts and us.

Emmet was not happy to see Bella, or, as he called her in his mind, his 'new little sister', so weak. He knew from our last family meeting that she was not as fragile as she looked, but he still hated think that now she may in fact be just that fragile. _'Oh, Eddy has her in his clothes now… well, well, well. Is he hiding something from us?'_

Though Emmet's thoughts were more on the lines of thinking Bella and I had been much more intimate then I had led everyone to believe, what I ended up focusing on was that she was in my shirt. Alice had put one of my light blue button-ups on Bella. In my haste to keep her from falling down the stairs, I had not taken that in. But as I descended the last of the steps with her in my arms I could smell my scent all over her. How strangely… right.

I had seen in my father's, my brothers' and many humans' minds how seeing a woman in their clothes was arousing and empowering, but never did I truly understand why that was until I looked down at Bella in my arms, wearing my shirt. Having her wrapped in my scent was like have some kind of claim on her; shouting out to other males that she was mine, completely mine!

But besides the arousal factor, she looked very good in my shirt. The pale blue color sat nicely against her paler skin. There was also the fact that her flesh was sharing the same covering that my flesh had once been and would be again some day.

I slowly set Bella down onto the sofa, letting my eyes wander rather shamelessly over her body. However, I knew now was not the time to let my lust for my beautiful mate take hold of me, as Jasper was reminding me in his thoughts.

"Hey kitten." I nearly growled as Em used his pet name for her. "So the vamps go hunting and you just had to find some other monster to go hang with? Couldn't you just stick with the humans for one day?" Emmet said jokingly, trying to lighten the tense mood in the room and simultaneously bring up just how accepting she truly was over knowing we were vampires.

All of our eyes focused on Bella as Emmet joked with her. She only smiled at him and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Bear, I just had to have my mythical creature fix for the day, and seeing as you all were out, I had to find a different one," she said sarcastically.

Shock froze my thoughts for a moment as she joked with Emmet. Her reactions were all _completely_ wrong. It was like she actively pulling danger towards her, first with us, and now the mutts. She should be running from all of us screaming her head off. I started to wonder if Bella was entirely stable, mentally speaking.

"Edward told us he picked up that your 'friend'," Emmet had trouble getting the word 'friend' out, hating that she befriend one of them "told you our 'family secret'." _'But he made our family out to be like any other vamps out there. Stupid, prejudiced mutts,'_ Emmet thought, but knew better than to say out aloud with Carlisle present.

Bella let out a long sigh. "Jake was having misgivings about Sam. He thought he was starting some gang and that one of his best friends was getting pulled into it." Bella looked down and stated playing with edge of my shirt.

'_She's nervous; this is going to be bad,' _Jasper thought, and immediately sent waves of calm to wash over to Bella. Jasper was not the only one who noticed Bella sudden nerves. Rose was about to blow a gasket just thinking the mutt had made us out to be a lot worse than we were, while Esme fretted that whatever it was the mutt had said would drive Bella from us.

"When I asked what Billy said about it, Jake scoffed at me, saying all Billy did was keep telling him a bunch of superstitious legends," Bella continued, a sad smile on her face as she looked up at us. "Jake just thought it was superstation when he told me," she rushed on, probably because of the looks of anger on our faces. "I asked what the legends were. He said he was not supposed to tell any outsiders about them, but I convinced him to tell me. It wasn't his fault at all," she rushed on guiltily.

Guilt? How could she feel guilt over asking that mutt friend of hers about the legends? It would to natural for any human to wonder what the legends were about. I was not alone in my astonishment and confusion: my whole family felt exactly the same way.

None of us were upset at her for her curiosity: no one would have been able to help themselves. Carlisle and I weren't even upset at the mutt for telling her about us, though the rest of the family was, to varying degrees. Carlisle was not upset because he was a forgiving man, whereas I knew from the pup's thoughts of when he was telling her the legends that he had done it for two reasons: first, to help himself understand why his father would be telling them to him over and over in the last few weeks, and also because he truly did not believe in them until his first shift. The shift was what I was furious over: he had hurt my Bella. Though I knew deep down that the blame should actually lie on Sam and the elders of the tribe for not explaining and even showing Jake when he was so likely to go through the changes himself. However, I could not look past the fact that it had been him who had inflicted the wounds.

'_After hearing the legends, she associated it with us, it would seem… Or did he tell her the legends were about us in the first place?'_ Carlisle wondered silently.

I had had to wonder that myself: I had picked up that there had been an argument over letting her come to us. Was it then that they had told her we were the source of the legends?

"You immediately thought of us?" I asked. I knew as the words left my mouth that it came out to cold. In the long run, we would not have been able to hide what we were because of her enhanced senses. I had known that, but I had hoped to put the conversation off for as long as possible.

Bella squirmed in her seat at my question. _'Edward, she's feeling slightly nervous,'_ Jasper warned, but I did not need his ability to tell me this. Body language alone showed it.

"So you really don't know why you're like this?" Carlisle asked, curiosity-overpowering sensitivity.

"No," she hung her head. _'Edward, she's ashamed of herself: I think we've learned enough for now,' _Jasper thought urgently.

"Well!" I said, just a little too loudly. "We're all on the same page now, right? Nothing more anyone wants to know? No? Good!"

"Yes, I think we've had a very productive time here," Alice put in with forced cheer at Jasper's quick glance at her. She was disgruntled though: she still did want to know more about Bella, and she wanted to share everything about us as well.

"Yes," Esme agreed wholeheartedly. "Bella, I think you've had a bit of a day dear. Maybe you should let Edward take you home, hm?"

Bella nodded, to my relief. We said our goodbyes, and I led her out to my Volvo, when an idea suddenly came to me.

"Would you mind a quick detour? I'd like to show you something."


End file.
